Big baby!

I had an ultrasound late yesterday and it re-confirmed what the last ultrasound (which was 10 weeks ago) said... our baby is a big and tall baby! It is 3lbs 13oz according to their estimates, and at the 83% of height and weight. This means, for its age, it is bigger than 83% of other babies. The baby also slept (somewhat mercifully) through the ultrasound, with a few short periods of moving slightly, yawning, and some light fidgeting. I was a bit concerned it would do its normal calisthenics instead, so taking a nap was a welcome surprise.

It is tucked into a very good position right now- head down, elbows bent, hands near its face, and legs firmly curled up against its abdomen. The technician said that it looks nicely proportioned- good muscles, nice long limbs, plump but not too plump for its age. I have a very average amount of amniotic fluid, which is a good thing although it made seeing the baby's face nearly impossible. Needless to say Matt and I were brimming with pride at our little buddy in there.

Babies in the third trimester gain about a 1/2 lb per week, so at current estimates the baby will be born weighing in around 8 1/2 lbs. This is exactly what Matt weighed at birth!

29 weeks and 3 days

Here we are at aaaaaalmost 30 weeks. So exciting!

I had a doctor's appointment today that was great- I learned that my body likes to "dump sugar" when I eat christmas cookies for breakfast, which means to give an almost false positive for excessive sugar in the urine. The nurse was very funny, "Did you have a lot of sugar with your breakfast? Like maybe some christmas cookies?" Uhhhh... guilty as charged.

I also gained almost no weight since my last appointment, which is neither good nor bad. I gained more-than-average for first 25 weeks, and therefore one month below average is kind of a relief. I guess I'm evening out, which is nice.

The baby is settled in head-down again. I'm glad, and more comfortable. I thought it was, but its little angular butt kinda feels like the blocky shape of its head, so I was slightly confused. I know its feet felt like they were near my ribs, but then sometimes they "jack-knife" with their legs extended so that is not necessarily a perfect sign of being head-down.

The baby kicked the heart-rate monitor and startled the nurse, which was funny. It moved around quite a bit and generally showed off its fine talents of being an active baby. That made everyone happy and Matt is so proud of his little acrobat's antics. Apparently this baby is far more active than average. Good! Healthy!

On an unrelated note, the friend's baby is HOME! Little boy Kit got to come home from the hospital in time for Christmas and has been gaining weight steadily without further feeding interventions. I am so happy for my friends that their little guy is doing so well. He is still a month from his "due date" so you can imagine how exciting it is that he is already at home full time. He already weighs more than I did when I was born- amazing! Also, the report is that he looks great in the sweater I bought him, and it fits nicely. Awwww...

Home improvement

I know I've been slacking on my photos of myself being all big and pregnant. Our lives have been entirely consumed lately by contractors, drywallers, carpeters, etc which has left little time for goofy photos of me in my cheerleader outfit.

However, Matt and I have been taking some photos of each other hard at work in the 2nd floor addition. Behold! A pregnant painter (note that we exclusively use "Low VOC paint" to prevent toxic paint fumes) wearing her husband's overalls!

Flippy freakout

The baby definitely was head-down for a few days. You know how I know? Because last night I woke up at 3am to the most amazing uncomfortable SOMETHING going on in my uterus. It was like the baby had been replaced with a rabid raccoon. The intense motion, squirming, skin stretching and even some internal scratching made me nauseous, miserable, freaked out, hungry (weird!) and wide awake. Then- the baby decided it was done, and... that it liked it with its head up, jammed in my ribs, again. The feeling was completely unmistakeable- it was heads up once more, and it took some serious effort to get there.

Once upright, it promptly kicked me in the bladder and lower intestine for about an hour, bringing my self-pitying and indigestion to new heights as I alternately peed, thrashed around in bed, tried not to puke on Matt, and wolfed down a cup of apple sauce. All of this came to a somewhat ridiculous head when Matt, as he was rubbing my back in a half-asleep attempt to make me feel better, asked if maybe some hot tea would be nice. I burst into tears, hugged a pillow and just sat on the side of the bed in total pity-wallowing fashion. Then I hugged the pillow too hard and almost puked, so I had to stand up and avoid vomiting while crying. It was 4am, and I had reached my end.

Sometime after that I fell asleep completely upright in bed, propped by 4 pillows and a blanket into the only position that did not make me feel like I was going to vomit.

This morning I feel better, except that the baby is still upright (kicking is worse in this position, and sitting/driving is bad) and I feel like someone tucked a grapefruit under my left lung.

Note to baby; FLIP BACK OVER. And then stay that way!

Fun for the whole family!

The baby seems to have flipped back over, much to my relief (physical and mental). I can't imagine having a full term baby in the breech position- it was noticeably less comfortable in several ways to have that little head stuck under my ribcage. Now, I'm back to getting kicked in the gut, but that is waaaay better. The other possibility is that I am fooling myself and the baby is still upside-up. I have a doctor's appointment in about 10 days so if that is the case, I'll figure it out soon.

Baby's kicking/punching squirming is getting incredibly strong. Every once in a while it kicks so hard it almost takes my breath away, and yesterday it kicked Matt's hand so firmly that he and I both yelped in surprise and I ended up doubled over and laughing. I really, really doubt it could move its hands with that much power, which is why I'm thinking it must be back to the head-down position.

At the city council meeting last night, I got all nervous and anxious about chickens. Almost a year of working on this and it all came down to one vote. As the discussion progressed and got a little heated, I could feel the baby getting more and more agitated. Matt and my friend Julie started giggling as the baby's rolls and kicks became abundantly obvious to the outside observer, and Julie put her hand on my upper belly just in time to get a strong thwack from the baby. She and I both jumped and then got a case of the "church giggles" while we attempted to be courteous in the council chambers. I knew that the chemicals and hormones in a mom's body affected the baby (duh!), but it was truly amazing to watch my own baby get all hopped up on my excitement/nervousness level. Only a few minutes after the ordinance passed and the baby went back to sleep, calm and quiet in there.

I'm kind of glad I didn't have to get up to speak at the council meeting last night. It would have been very distracting to be in front of the whole city council, on TV, with a crazed acrobatic baby distorting my belly in bizarre, fairly uncomfortable, and comical ways.

Baby plays a practical joke on me

Two nights ago the baby moved so much, so constantly, that I got hardly any sleep. It was unbelievable- the kicking almost never stopped, all night. Not painful, but highly distracting. Last night I slept a lot better and generally had a better evening, and in the morning the baby moved a lot during breakfast, as usual. It firmly kicked me, squirmed, kicked some more, got the hiccups, and generally entertained me and Matt for a while with its antics.

Then, sometime around 10am it stopped moving. I didn't think much of this until I realized around 2pm that it hadn't done anything in about 4 hours. That troubled me. Maybe it got tangled up? Freaked out? And then at one point the baby got the hiccups- in the wrong spot. Up by my ribs. Disconcerting!

So I called my health care providers- they told me that if I wanted to, I was welcome to come on down and they'd test the baby to make sure everything looked normal.

My nurse was very nice. First thing she did was confirm that yes- the baby has inverted itself and is now chilling out with its head up. After two months of being head down, it must have decided it needed a change of pace. Now that I've been shown how, I can feel its little bobble head quite clearly- it feels very much like an apple sitting under my skin. Up until today when I smooshed down in that area I could feel a tangled up group of legs and feet parts, and I would inevitably get kicked back. Now- I get a wobbly apple, and I'm a little nervous that I'll poke the little bugger in the eye or something. Temporary ban on smooshing!

Of course as soon as I got rigged up to the doppler, buzzer, etc the baby went hogwild. It kicked the doppler, squirmed very strongly, and generally acted like it knew it was the center of attention. It insisted on squirming right by the receiver, which made very loud scary noises through the microphone. When it kicks deep in my pelvis it feels odd (feels even weirder than kicking in the gut/ribs) and muted, but once I got used to the new feeling it was very clear that no, baby is not stressed, tangled, or upset. Baby just wanted to be upright. I think maybe the effort of getting there required a four hour recovery nap.

The good news is that baby was perfectly content in the new position, and the nurse said that if it spent the last two months upside down it will most likely flip back to upside down sometime soon. Maybe our little frog wanted a heads-up holiday? Hard to tell. Hopefully it will just flip back into the correct position and then stay that way.

For a good laugh

Visit my other blog to watch my sweet moves at catching a wily hen. I might be pregnant, but I can still out maneuver fancy poultry.

http://radwoodchickens.blogspot.com/

Friend has baby!

My very petite, very largely pregnant friend (my water aerobics partner) had her baby on Thursday! I just found out now, because I was out of town. So exciting.

4lbs, 13oz. They named him Kit Carlisle, last name starts with M.

The little guy is a total champ- he's breathing all by himself just fine, very active and alert, good digestion, and overall doing extremely well. He doesn't know how to swallow because he is two months pre-term, but my friend is having good success with the pump so he's getting her breastmilk with a little technological help.

He was due on January 28th so we are all a little shocked, but it has been abundantly clear for the last month or so that there was no way he was going to stay in the womb that long. My friend went into labor late Wednesday night, they tried to stop the labor, and within about 1 hour the baby was born vaginally anyway. The report from the very proud father is that she pushed three times and Kit shot out like a screaming red cannonball. He's a cutey, that is for darn sure. Very lanky- he is 20inches long so the little fellow is all arms, legs, and head.

Welcome Kit! Keep being strong and learn to swallow soon so you can go home!!!

I'm having a hiccupy basketball player

I had a prenatal appointment today. I like prenatal appointments with my new caregivers sooooo much more than my old doctor. To make a long story short on that point; after some serious handwringing and about a month of consideration, research, and word-of-mouth investigations I decided to switch practices. Not a big deal in actuality (i.e. records were easy to transfer and both practices were quite understanding in my desires), but a big decision anyway.

So now, at my new practice, the nurses keep teasing me that I'm a little big for a new patient. I got a "1st trimester" gift bag by mistake (I gave it back, minus the neat day planner it came with) which cracked me up. I have to learn all the new patterns of their practice, like the new pee test protocol (fun!). But it is all totally worth it. Matt and I are a lot happier with my new care.

Today I got weighed, measured, dopplered and poked. As usual, I am ahead of schedule on a few things- my uterus is 2 to 3 weeks too long, my baby is about 2 to 3 weeks too tall, and as a result of that I weigh about 5 lbs more than I might have otherwise. Everyone says I'm just having a basketball player and I shouldn't sweat it at all.

Lately, the coolest part is that the baby is getting really skilled at kicking on command. If you press hard into where it like to keep its little feet, it often whacks you one. This has been going on for only a few days but it keeps me highly entertained. When the nurse pressed the doppler wand into my upper belly- thunk, the baby kicked it. And again, and again. It was really funny to have her gently (and sweetly) reprimand my fetus, "Now, this time, you need to be a really good baby and NOT kick the wand away."

Thwack.

So she gave up and moved to the other side (down near my groin) to get the heart rate she was trying to catch. Down there, there were two conflicting sounds- one was the rhythmic swishing of the baby's heart (same as always- normal for age) and the other was the goofy spastic ticking noise of a little baby with the hiccups captured on the doppler wand. So THAT is what the feeling has been for the last week or two. I wasn't 100% sure, but now I know. Diagnosis; hiccupy. Prognosis; excellent.

Our little frog is tall, a champion kicker, hiccupy and healthy. Now if I can just kick my head cold!

Sweet, sweet snow

Oh happy day!

I have been waiting for enough snow (any snow, really) so that I could go skiing. After the strong storm that moved through on Sunday night, and a few subsequent inches each night since then, the Nordic Club decided to groom out one of the free local XC skiing areas (Pattee). A while back I decided that to keep safe, I would only ski groomed trails this winter, so I was THRILLED that they groomed Pattee- only 15 minutes from our house! Nice long looping gentle trails!

Don't I look psyched? Oh joyous day to be on my skis. And my good XC jacket still zips up... barely.

The only bummer is that Lucky cannot go on these trails- no dogs allowed on the groomed paths. Sad, but necessary to keep the grooming lines clean. I understand. But Luck was upset to be left behind in the house, of course.

Success is ours

- We made it the birthing class on time (as opposed to last week)

- Matt watched an entire movie of a birth without passing out (again, as opposed to last week)

- A girl in the class offered to lend me a work-appropriate maternity dress for my upcoming conference in Atlanta (I don't want to have to buy new clothing for just one day, of course)

All together now- Hurray! We did it!

Second class tomorrow

I am looking forward to our second birth class tomorrow with a sort of sado-masochistic perspective. Will Matt pass out on someone again? Will the woman that he passed out on top of last time come to class at all? Maybe she switched to the Monday class to avoid us (not a bad idea if that makes her more comfortable).

The whole thing is so funny. I told all the girls in my pre-natal water aerobics class (which in itself is incredibly amusing) and they were dying laughing. Except, of course, for the woman in the class whose husband is claiming he will refuse to go to class with her because it makes him feel queasy to just think about it. She paled and later asked me if she should really force her husband to go or not. I basically said, "You know, if he really, really thinks he might vomit- I'd take him seriously. I'd advise talking to the teacher ahead of time and working out a solid game plan to make it through the class." Or maybe he is a wussy-pants and should just keep a bucket handy. But I didn't say that last part.

Matt is not yet mentally prepared for the second class. I think we'll have to discuss it tonight and create a strategy for him. I'm thinking he should take lots of breaks during the class (especially the videos), and we can arrive a little early to get a good seat near the exit.

Wish us luck!

Quick clarification

In Matt's special guest post, he says, "I think I scarred that poor woman for life."

To clarify... He is referring to the woman to his right, the eight month pregnant girl. She and her husband were both quite horrified and shocked, by the looks on their faces. And of course they didn't know what was going on so maybe they thought it was an actual medical emergency, which would have been very scary for them.

I, on the other hand, am not scarred, horrified, or shocked. I am actually just rather entertained by the entire thing and have spent quite a bit of time laughing at Matt at his expense. We'll get past this, I'm sure- or else he really will be required to wear his new spiffy ski helmet to the birth. And one of my friends suggested maybe a mouthguard too, in case he hits the floor face-first. Dental work is not cheap these days.

We will not be sitting next to those same people this week. I don't want to risk traumatizing them again.

SPECIAL guest post by Matt

The Incident!

So, as Leigh mentioned earlier we started birth classes. Now, I have had a fair amount of medical training, I've put my own finger back together after severing the tip, I've performed first aid with blood gushing from wounds, and I can gut and skin a deer. So I don't know why, but I was a little intimidated by the thought of watching videos of natural childbirth; I felt like I needed to ease my way into it and Leigh said she would help by showing me still photos before I saw video.

Anyway, I missed the first half hour of the birth class because I was in class (Human Behavior in the Social Environment- the irony of this kills me). So I showed up to our first birth class just in time to begin the presentation - AND VIDEOS!! Yikes! The nurse teaching the class (Lindsey) showed us a video of "Riley's Birthday" (not sure who Riley is but I went with it); it started out alright and then came the closeups of the "business end" of the birth process. I felt the temperature in the room rise slightly and I began to fidget a little. I noticed at least 2 other guys in the room uncomfortably shifting positions a few times; heck, I couldn't get comfortable either. I kept looking away from the screen but my eyes were strangely drawn back again within seconds. Then the baby's head came out and I thought, "wow, that's not too bad", then the rest of the baby came out and was placed on the mother's stomach. The temperature in the room went back to normal and the next thing I knew, Leigh was pulling me off of the 8 month pregnant woman to my right. Yup, I passed out cold! I felt it happening too and was powerless to stop myself or warn anyone. I think I scarred that poor woman for life.

Well there goes the idea of easing my way into seeing the birth process. Better now than during the real deal, I guess. Leigh keeps joking that I have to wear my ski helmet when she goes into labor; not a bad idea (considering my track record).

22 or 23 weeks

Depending on what you look at, I might be 23 weeks pregnant today. Some stuff says 22 weeks and 4 days, and other stuff says 23 weeks and 0 days.

Either way, here is a picture of me... today. At aboooout 23 weeks!



We tried to fix the red-eye from having it be nighttime with flash when we took this picture, but it kinda makes me look creepy. Too bad!

Classes, meetings, appointments

I feel a little bit... busy these days.

I am taking a (hilarious!) prenatal water aerobics class twice a week at the local women's gym. It is very inexpensive and my friend (who is due in January) is going with me. Everyone besides the two of us in the class is, well... quite obese- so the fact that she weighs less than 120lbs while about 7 months pregnant is pretty funny in comparison. Incidentally, she is really short, so for her height she is a healthy weight. I look quite ludicrous in my blue bikini, dare I say it. I'm falling out of the top in a rather overstuffed fashion. But it is comfortable still, so I'm sticking to it.

Matt and I have birthing class once a week. Two hours of videos, breathing, etc. This starts tonight for the first class and I'm not sure how it will go. I am looking forward to it, while I am fairly certain that Matt is just scared of the videos.

Then I have school. That takes 1 1/2 days a week on campus running to seminars, meetings, and my one class.

Oh yeah, and doctor's appointments. Once a month. And doula appointments, once a month. Somewhere in all this I work 30 hours a week.

No wonder people think pregnant women are forgetful! I need a personal assistant just to keep my datebook up to snuff!

Belly button gives up

My belly button has been trying hard to maintain its innie status. I know it has, because the darn thing has been hurting me for months.

I think I will mark today as the day it lost the war. It might have happened yesterday, or even a few days ago, but sometime recently more of my belly button arrived on the "out" then was able to stay on the "in." You can clearly see it through my teeshirts as a funky little lump. I think part of the pain that I experienced in that area for the last couple months was actually my belly button fighting to maintain its position. Now that it has given up, that part of my belly is far less sore. Bonus!

22 weeks, and the belly button goes for it. At least it made it past the halfway mark.

Doula mania!

After reading up on birthing options, about two months ago I decided I wanted to look into hiring a doula for the labor and birth. Birth doulas (which are different from post-partum doulas) are (inevitably well meaning) women that are there to help you mentally and physically prepare for labor and birth, and also to be there from start to finish to help you survive/endure/(enjoy?) the birth experience. The medical profession recently has come out strongly supporting the use of birth doulas, which is very cool.

Matt and I really like the idea of having an experienced hand on deck for the whole time. Nurses come and go with shift changes, OBs flit in and out until something goes wrong, but a good doula is like a combo of your best buddy, coach, and personal slave for the whole time. That sounds so reassuring to me, and it takes a lot of the pressure off Matt.

So, once we made this decision, the search was on. The only doula I knew at the start is a brand-new mom turned doula-do-gooder. I'm not opposed to this in concept, but I personally wanted someone with lots of experience. Like, maybe 10 years? Or at least 20-30 births? That would be good. I don't want to be a "never seen THAT happen." I want to be, "I've seen this, what you need to try is..."

I tried the internet for doula certification organizations, and basically failed at that tactic. Darnit! So then I smartly asked my OB, who told me to ask the Birth Center, who emailed me a list of recommended doulas that they enjoy working with. Here is a synopsis of some of the more interesting phone interviews;

Doula #1- Highly informative. Very friendly. Massage therapist. Good on the phone. Having a baby in February and would be bringing the infant to my birth. Hmm... that is OK, I guess, and considering a first birth can easily take over 24 hours, I do understand where she is coming from with that- what with feedings and such. But is that what I want? What if the baby is crying a lot while I'm trying to concentrate? Been a doula since 2003, which is a pretty decent amount of time. Kinda hippy-esque, but not too much.

Doula #2- Direct entry (lay) midwife = bonus! Very nice on the phone. Been attending births for over 20 years. I liked this one right off the bat. Very matter-of-fact and yet reassuring at the same time. We set up a coffee shop meeting.

Doula #3- This was what I came to call the "boot camp" doula. She was kinda scary on the phone, to be honest. Been attending births for 32 years. Interrupted me mid-sentence several times. I was intrigued, and kinda intimidated, and then she insisted we set up a meeting (Matt, me, and her) to talk. If nothing else, it sounded quite educational to meet with her, so I agreed to it.

Doula #4- Wow. The other end of the spectrum was completely represented by #4. Just shy of suggesting I rub crystals where the sun don't shine, this one was very, very "left of center." I barely got a word in for 40 minutes as she expounded on the beauty of birth, and how her and her friend teach a holistic birthing class together, and how birth is so great, and empowering, and... yeah. I stayed on the phone mostly because she amused the heck out of me. And because I could not get a word in edgewise to end the conversation.

Doula #5- Another massage therapist. Lots of good ideas, but only has been a doula for two years. I was hesitant mostly because of the lack of experience- the rest of this woman's phone interview went really nicely. In my head, she was the back-up if #s 2 and 3 bombed their in-person interviews. She seemed quite reasonable.

The in-person interviews were far less entertaining than the phone interviews, mostly because I weeded out the hippies before proceeding. Boot-camp doula ended up being softer around the edges in person, but still really set in her opinions and a little over the top. The best was when she talked about her diet- no wheat, soy, corn, rice or dairy products. Wow! She proudly mentioned that after she started on this diet, she lost 35 pounds last year. I can't say that surprises me. Doula #2 ended up being even more fabulous in person than she was on the phone- she was a lovely person to talk to, we related to each other very nicely, and she clearly is what I was looking for. I really enjoyed her company.

And the winner is... a woman from New York named Kathee.

Ahhhhh.

Kathee is officially on board now. Our first meeting as an expectant couple + doula grouping is next week at a local bakery. She's bringing more books! So exciting.

Squirmer!

I've been able to feel the baby move for at least a month, but in the last two weeks it has gotten downright strong. I've had my hands and arms nudged, kicked, and otherwise manipulated by the baby when they were at rest against my stomach area. The baby goes through periods of lots of movement (usually after I eat) where you can actually see my skin moving around like a scene from Alien.

Three days ago, I finally timed it just right with Matt so that he could feel the little squirmer doing its thing. Matt was pretty psyched- it kicked him pretty firmly right in the palm of his hand. Nice job little buddy! I've only recently gotten better at predicting these movements so even though we had been trying to get it to kick Matt for a few weeks, this was the first time the three of us were able to coordinate efforts successfully.

This morning the baby got really frisky after some pancakes and orange juice and we laughed as I pulled my shirt tight over my belly to watch the little feeties run patterns across my skin. We could clearly see a few kicks, and then some sort of "running man" kinda jogging-in-place motion for a while.

I can rarely feel its arms, but sometimes I do feel it doing things in that vicinity. I think the arm feelings are really muted because of my anterior placenta - which is fine. I know it has arms, and I know how capable it is at moving around its little legs. I think I can feel the head pretty well- that is like a dull shove rather than a little pokey kick or squirm. Makes sense to me.

Maybe once the baby gets even stronger I'll try to video its little feet smooshing up against my belly. That could be fun.

Blood pressure

Matt and I are getting life insurance. After the tragic and untimely death of a friend and his son a few weeks ago, I realized that the hardest part for me to imagine was not how our friend and his little boy could be lost forever, but how his partner (long time girlfriend, mom to his son) could possibly ever recover. And part of that is the sadly real financial aspects of it- how will she pay the rent while mourning? How long will it be before she is capable and comfortable with rejoining the workforce? How will she pay for grief counseling, should she need it?

So I applied for and bought some sensible life insurance for us, which requires a blood, weight, urine and blood pressure test. I wasn't allowed to eat for 12 hours because it was a fasting test, so I had a huge delicious dinner and then had the appointment scheduled for bright and early in the morning.

8am is not my happiest time of day. I arrived at the doctor's groggy, hungry, and undoubtably low blood sugared. It was cold out and still sort of low light. The nurse tattled along and went to take my blood pressure. "Do you know what it normally is?" "Oh, I forget, but it is almost always quite low."

And it was. First measure- 80/40. Second- 80/40. She looked puzzled. "You feel OK?" I reassured her. "I'm fine- I'm just tired and you told me not to eat anything."

She found a smaller cuff for my thin little arm (in her words) and tried a third time. 85/40. Wooo!!!

I had to laugh. My blood pressure has historically been quite low, and pregnancy plays weird tricks with your circulation. Normally a BP of 80/40 is rated "Hypotension" which according to the charts will make you feel weak and tired. A little lower than that and you'll get borderline fainting-prone. I've actually had doctors advise me to eat a little more salt, and once someone asked me, "Are your hands always cold?" I'd say more like icy, thank you very much.

Just last week I had my blood pressure taken at the OBs and it was perfectly normal, if a little on the lower end. So I know it isn't a problem.

The moral of the story? All those years of saying, "I'm not a morning person" and "I hate skipping breakfast" were not my imagination. And why is it so hard for me to wake up in the morning? Hmmmm...

So THAT is where it went

I've gained 15 pounds, but just I feel like I haven't gained thaaat much weight. 5 weeks to 20 weeks, 1 lb per week. Simple math, but where exactly are these 15 lbs hiding? And then I compared these photos.

Ah ha! I believe it now. And seriously, I should work on my posture lately- look at that space between the small of my back and my elbow in the 20 week photo. That doesn't look right.

20 week photos

Our house is in a total disarray, but we still have one wall that we can take nice pictures against. Thank goodness!



Here I am in my "cheerleader outfit" as my sister put it. Basically, I thought it would be good to always wear the same thing so that you can really see how big I am getting. What I picked, however, is supposedly a little goofy (it is tight, yet comfy, which was my main criteria when I chose it). Goofy is fine, I think. With that, I thought I'd commemorate the half-way point by taking a couple extra photos.

It was cold when we took these pictures... I can see now.



For contrast, here I am in my "impregnito" outfit. Nice corduroys, comfy down jacket and Matt's funky big retro sunglasses. I look like a secret agent! Yeah, right.

;)



Last but not least, this is me in my street clothes. Teeshirt, pants. You can clearly see here that despite not wearing cheerleader clothing, I do, in fact, have a growing belly.

20 week ultrasound!

The 20 week ultrasound was really fun! The technician was extremely respectful of our wishes to not know the gender- she said only about 5% of her patients request to not know, and she thinks it is "more fun" for the parents. Great! She even left it off the doctor's forms, so that means that even our OB doesn't know.



(that is the umbilical cord, by the way -don't get all excited.)

The baby sucked its thumb for a good part of the ultrasound (and is doing so in this image), which I was completely entertained by. It also kicked and squirmed, which was fun to watch. I learned that I have an anterior placenta- which after some quick googling explains why I seem to only feel kicks on my upper left side. I saw that our baby is head down, face up, and kinda tilted (so that if I was a clock, it would be feet at 2 o'clock, head at 8 o'clock). When it kicks towards my belly button, the feeties smack my squishy, nerve-free, placenta and I can't feel it. When it kicks up or pushes up, I feel it because it is pressing on just my muscles and the underside of my left ribs. After about three to four weeks of wondering why I only really could feel firm movements in the left upper part of my belly, this was quite reassuring! Once its arms are more powerful, and once it gets bigger, I should start feeling it all over the place.

One funny thing we learned at the ultrasound is our baby is really, really long for
its age. Almost two weeks too long! Long legs, long torso. The OB says this doesn't affect our due date, but it might end up being a rather tall baby. So what
I'm guessing this means is I should not buy too much in Newborn size, and stick to 0-3m and bigger instead. My sister's baby was also quite long for gestational age when she was measured at 20 weeks, so I suspect this is a family trait.

We also learned all sorts of "doesn't haves." Doesn't have a cleft palate! Doesn't have an umbilical defect! Doesn't have any skull defects! Doesn't have any
spinal defects! And then some "does haves..." has two kidneys, 10 fingers, 10 toes, 4 chambers in the heart, full bladder, good swallowing behavior, good heart
rate. And my favorite- cute little feet! I got a printout of the cute little feet that I just love.

You can see that the feet, now, are about the size of the entire leg in that first ultrasound. Baby growth is pretty amazing.

Early likes and dislikes

Now that I've been able to feel the baby move for a few weeks, I've pinned down a couple of likes and dislikes.

Likes:
1) lunch! mmmm... favorite meal of the day, apparently
2) fruity snacks (like an apple, or organic fruit-roll-up thingies)
3) reading in bed
4) caffeine (don't worry, I'm waaaay below the daily suggested limit)

Dislikes:
1) Matt trying to feel it move (goes from little squirmer to completely still)
2) tight pants
3) living near a full bladder

Looking into the future

The future is coming... but as usual it is starting off by being really, really messy and scary.

Our home renovation has started. The contractors are here everyday tearing apart walls, ceilings, and (heartbreakingly) our refinished attic. They are good guys and are trying not to disrupt our lives more than they need to, but the reality is that they are covering everything in dust and making our house a disaster area. I am probably going to spend an hour today damp-mopping dust up so that I have a clean, low-dust weekend. They actually painter's tape our bedroom door shut everyday to keep the filth from getting on our bed and clothing. They don't work Fridays (10 hour days M- Th is enough), which is a good reprieve for me.

I got home yesterday to traces of drywall plaster smeared subtly across the front porch. Some things you cannot sweep away. I walked in and there was a huge hole in the ceiling of the living room, a big beam tacked diagonally onto the wall of the living room, trim was ripped off just about everything in the living room, and I looked up the (old) stairwell to see exposed beams and insulation. Matt and I went upstairs and said, "Holy shit." They have torn off the ceiling of the attic, the walls around the windows, and a big, big piece of the wall where the dormer will go. I thought Matt might cry- a few short years ago we spent weeks making that attic livable, and now the guys are tearing it down. Deep breath.

But the beauty of it is that we want them to do this. We want them to tear things off the walls and expose the guts of our house. We actually want them to rip huge holes into our living room, and most importantly we are paying them to tear 1/4 of the roof of our entire house right smack off. They will install the massive windows that are living in my tulip bed (why, why tulips? they are doomed) and drive an actual crane into our backyard next week.

To see the carnage yesterday made it all more real. Soon we'll have a beautiful stairwell, a second (huge!) bedroom with giant windows that look up onto the mountains, and a neat little attached study/craft room. And then we'll have a baby to put into the bedroom.

Hopefully in THAT order.

Yikes.

New ticker

Upon my sister's request, I have put a second ticker on the top of the blog. This one shows my "weeks pregnant," which some people prefer to a countdown.

I aim to please.

Apparently, my gums are pregnant

I visited the dentist today and had a nice thorough cleaning. The first thing the hygienist said is, "Oh! You are pregnant! You want me to get you a little pillow for your back while you sit in our chair?"

Guess it is getting pretty obvious, or at least to hygienists. Very thoughtful of her to ask about the pillow. I declined, but it was a nice idea.

Then of course she chattered on as she scraped my teeth about her kids, having kids, how exciting being pregnant is, and that sort of thing. It was entertaining. When she got to cleaning my lower back-most molars, she informed me that I have an extremely mild case of pregnancy-induced gingivitis on both back rear molars. Huh. So my gums are pregnant, too.

Thankfully, the only thing I need to do is brush extra well back there and remember to floss all the way to behind the backmost teeth. That is doable, and she said that I shouldn't worry too much about it unless they start to ache or hurt. Then, back to the dentist for me. But she said that is really, really unlikely because my teeth are so nice and clean. Good for me!

Bird curtain successful! and a story

The anti-bird gauzy curtain is working fabulously. It was very cheap, is pretty in the window, and we haven't heard or seen a bird smash itself into the glass since. Also, it has a slightly festive snowy-halloween-ish look to it so I placed some pumpkins in the windowsill and the overall effect is very cute.

Also- I ran into a distant friend today. I was wearing a warm vest (it is chilly out) and had my hands in the pockets, which basically negates any visual effect of being pregnant. I jokingly called it being "in-preg-nito" to Matt the other day, which we both thought was funny.

She said something like, "Hey! Good to see you! I hear you have a bun in the oven!" to which I replied "Yeah, it is really exciting. And next week I'll be halfway there, which is pretty neat."

She stared at my torso. Open mouthed, dead silence. Awkward pause. Then she pointed at my belly and said, "But where is the baby hiding?"

OK- stop the presses. This is a prime example of where I've noticed that people lose all sense of self control when faced with a pregnant person. When else is it OK to openly critique someone, in their face, in public, and POINT for god's sake, about their body shape? Never! Seriously.

I feel like I handled it with grace. I smiled and said something like "Oh, yes, this vest does hide it pretty well." And then I unzipped the vest to display that I indeed have a baby growing in there and she looked very relieved.

I can easily list nicer things she could have said that would have had the same message.

"Well, don't you look trim. Is that something that runs in your family?"

"I'm surprised- my other friends all showed their pregnancies much earlier!"

"I thought for sure you weren't very far along. Guess we should see each other more often."

Oh well. Her fault. Some people are kinda rude.

Article on my least favorite name

I can't resist. In May 2006, previously unbeknownst to me, the New York Times did an article on my least favorite baby name. Nevaeh....

And if it is a boy, will you name it Lleh?

Unforseeable repercussion

Lately, I've had a greater interest in housecleaning. This is not like me, but several of my pregnancy books do list a desire to "nest" as a element of the 2nd trimester so I'm not surprised. It is fine- a little extra sweeping and swabbing never hurt anyone. Besides, it is nice to have a clean kitchen, and for some reason cleaning seems more fun lately. Funny hormones.

However, one thing I've cleaned has caused a serious problem. We have this large bay window in the front of our house that was really dusty and dirty. I decided it needed to be clean last week, so I carefully sprayed and toweled the whole thing with some hippy-type windex until it was as clear as fresh air... which has led a horrifying and near constant stream of birds to smash into it. Matt and I have seen two robins smash the window in the last two days, and at least one little sparrow met up with the window while Matt was home last week. And those are only the birds that we know of! There could be dozens of other victims!

I feel so bad for the little things. It looks like they are flying off OK after a minute or two of recovery in the shrubs, but still- this cannot be good for them. It is only a matter of time until something hits it hard enough to drop dead into the garden below.

I've resolved to get a gauzy, lightweight curtain that lets light in but discourages bird hits. And here I thought having a clean front window would be a stress reducer...

Redeemed!

If you read the other post from today, you will know why this post is named "Redeemed!"

Here is the fun fun photo comparison... the photo on the left is 5 weeks, and the one on the right is 18 weeks.

18 weeks

As the master of the digital camera, I let Matt take care of our digital recordings about 95% of the time. That is fine with me... however, it seems like he might have lost our "before" photo of me when I was 5 weeks along. Damn!

He's out on a bike ride right now so he can't defend himself against my potentially baseless allegations of photo-misplacement. He presented a memory chip to me yesterday and claimed it had the certain photo I wanted, but actually- I just figured this out- that chip is blank.

-- sigh --

So here is the photo from this morning (18 weeks) that matches the missing photo from 5 weeks. I intentionally am wearing the same outfit as the other photo, but of course the effect is less impressive without the first photo. Perhaps when he gets back we'll get this straightened out and it will turn out that we have another chip somewhere, with the 5 week photo, from back in July. I hope so!

Note the large bust. If/when the other photo turns up, you'll be able to clearly see the difference.

Shopping List

This is not what you are thinking.

I was pondering some heavy things this week- like genetic tests, embryo screening, etc after reading about that kinda stuff in a book. In my head, I started thinking about how I would create the most ultra-perfect Radwood baby possible... so here it is;

Hair: doesn't matter, both are thick and nice
Scalp: Mine, because Matt is "flakey"
Skin: Matt's, hands down. Less sunburn, very few zits even as a teenager, nicer pores, no history of skin cancer in the family. Even his back is less zitty than mine- and he's a guy!
Eye Color: doesn't matter. We are picking from a palette of blues and greens so you can't go wrong there.
Vision: Mine. No question. I love him, but he's blind as a bat without thick glasses. I barely need mine for driving.
Nose: Mine- and not for aesthetic reasons. Matt has chronic sinus and breathing problems. I don't mind the Polish/Roman look (there is nothing wrong with that), but I do mind the mouth breathing and being really prone to head colds.
Teeth: This is a slightly tough one, but I'm confident that my 5 cavities are far, far more dealable over the last close to 30 years than Matt's several years of braces, retainers, and other orthodontic torture. He only has one cavity, but I truly think that anti-decaying-advantage is trivial in comparison. I'm voting for my teeth- besides, as an adult I have 28, while he has 24. We both started with 32. Just the extra pulling out of the teeth alone suggests to me that my teeth are easier to deal with.
Allergic tendencies: Matt's, or shall I say Matt's lack thereof. I'm allergic to many things that are sucky (cats, some drugs, excess lactose, dust mites, leaf mold) and Matt is allergic to nothing that he knows of. Not fair.
Digestive tract: Mine. Matt is prone to upsets and heartburn. I've had heartburn once in my life, and it was because of excessive alcohol consumption so I deserved it. Even now while I'm 4 1/2 months pregnant I don't get heartburn.
Build: Either, doesn't matter. We kinda have the same build anyway.
Hands: Doesn't matter.
Arms: Matt is the monkey man. He has really long arms for his height. So... I'm not sure. Undecided.
Shoulders: Very tough call. I have a bad shoulder that aches, but Matt has a shoulder that likes to partially dislocate. I think this is a toss-up.
Legs: Doesn't matter
Ankles: Matt. I was prone to turned ankles as late teen / early twenties.
Back: Matt. I have some back problems.
Musical talent: Matt
Interpersonal skills: Matt
Dedication to completing tasks: Matt
Organization: Me
Test taking: Me
Planning and scheming: Me
Overachieving: doesn't matter.
Toes: Matt. I have weird toe callouses.
Love of Outdoors: doesn't matter
Athletic abilities: doesn't matter

Of course, we'll love the baby even if it gets my skin yet Matt's nasal passages. It is just funny to think of it like a Mr. Potato head where you can swap out all the parts.

New! Annoying!

I think this is becoming a total complaint blog. Lame!

With that, I will complain about the newest issues. I know no-one promised me a rose garden, and I know I am extremely fortunate for the simplicity and lack of sickness that has been my pregnancy thus far, but still... I have discomforts! I want to complain about them!

1) For the last two weeks my upper back and ribs have been frequently very sore and they ache, often to the point of driving me to incessantly squirm in my chair or worse still, need to lie down for a while. If I lie down for about 20 minutes it goes away, so that isn't that terrible. This happens nearly everyday, and usually is correlated with too much sitting still in a chair (like in a lecture hall, or at work).

2) I have this small, crazy rash on both of my elbows. The outside part- the wrinkly, dry part. This rash has actually been plagueing (plaguing? that is tough to spell) me since about early August. It itches. It looks slightly yucky. It seems like bug bites, but after 1 1/2 months and two separate countries I've concluded the bugs cannot be blamed any longer. It must be a pregnancy dry skin irritation type thing. I'm trying to self-treat this rash with intense moisturizing and it seems to be working a little bit; I've noticed less itching since I brought out the Burt Bee's salves. I figure at minimum my elbows smell nice now.

3) My belly button has been slowly modifying itself for about two or three weeks. Right now I seem to be past the "horrible burning sensation" phase that sucked last week, and instead I'm in the "aches and tenderness" phase. It also looks sort of blobby and it is clearly going to move past the surrounding skin within the next month or so. If I lie down and tense my stomach (like to sit up), it does a very creepy weird thing that makes Matt actually feel nauseous if he sees me do it. So I don't do that anymore when he is around. Also, my belly button has looked mildly bruised for the last three weeks. Eww...

On the flip side-

1) For whatever reason, pregnancy has actually improved my facial complexion. This is delightful and unexpected. Hurray for fewer zits!

2) Sometimes I have started to be able to feel the baby move. Just a tiny bit. But that is fun and different.

3) We're having a baby!

So yeah, the good does outweigh the bad. Enough said!

Froggy likes cupcakes

Since the first two or three weeks I haven't had any real food cravings. The first few weeks I wanted pickles, olives, and licorice. It was hot out, I was sweating a lot, so the salty foods made sense. Also, licorice is a folk remedy for nausea, so perhaps that made sense too.

In the last week I've started wanting odd foods again. On Thursday I made Matt pick me up some double chocolate cake mix on the way home from school and since then I have eaten an absolutely criminal number of cupcakes. Mmmmmm... delicious.

I read yesterday in one of my pregnancy books that cravings often intensify in the 4th month. Ah ha. I see now. Would that also account for why I bought and ate 1/4 lb of licorice on Friday? Yes, yes it would.

By the way, that wasn't a good idea. I did suffer some indigestion and regretted my actions. Next time I'll stick to about a 1/8 lb of licorice, I think. A quarter pound really was a lot. Or maybe I'll just eat more cupcakes.

Things just keep growing

I know that you are supposed to get bigger in a lot of ways while you are pregnant, but I have to say this boob thing is really getting out of hand.

Recently I've been having this weird sensation that something is sticking to my ribs late at night. It wasn't comfortable and I could not figure out what was going on. After a few days of pondering it, I discovered that when I'm not wearing a bra my boobs are now, when I slouch in front of the computer, slightly sagging and touching my ribs. Not any other time- like not when I'm sitting up straight (at dinner, etc, not a problem) but when I'm sitting like a Neanderthal late at night. Geez. I've never had this problem before.

So I decided to look through the array of nursing bras that have been lent to me by friends to see if different ones fit now, considering my obvious growth lately. And lo and behold... I am now a 36 C. Oh yeah, in 4 months I've covered 34 A to 36 C. Rumor has it this is only bound to get more impressive in the next 5 months.

WARNING: vulgar story comes in this next paragraph!

Recently I brought this topic up with Matt as follows,
Leigh, "Honey, this boob growth thing is insane."
Matt, "I know, sweetie. It has to be weird for you."
Leigh, "Can you imagine how it would feel if part of YOUR anatomy suddenly tripled in size?"
(Matt shows a sly grin)
Matt, "Well, give me 5 minutes and we'll see."
(Leigh thinks about that for a second)
Leigh, "AAaaww that is NOT what I meant!"

So I am left with giant hooters, a belly button that is increasingly distorted, and a belly that I don't care about right now. The belly doesn't bother me- that is the point, after all- you gotta grow one to grow a baby. But the boob thing just is crazy. Couldn't we stop here? I don't need any more boob to carry around. Noone ever starved a baby with 36 Cs!

I gotta go shopping for bras again. Sigh...

Tough day ends well

Yesterday was a weird day. I had a long day at work planned- lots of things to get done. I almost always bring lunch so that it is cheaper and healthier than buying something downtown, so I didn't really have any reason to leave the office.

By about 2pm my hips were sore, I was hungry (needed more lunch, I guess) and I had a headache. Lately I've been headache prone- which I have read is common so I generally ignore them and drink more water. Around 2:30 I got excessively annoyed at myself and decided to run some quick errands downtown to clear my head, exercise my legs and hips, and get a second lunch on the go. On the way back from the bank to the place I was going to eat lunch, I was lost in thought (headache had finally lifted) walking on the sidewalk when I heard a bloodcurdling scream. I looked up and saw, about 50 feet away from me, that a bicyclist had been hit by an SUV and thrown about 20 feet across the street. People rushed in to help and before I could do anything, passerbys had already called 911, stopped traffic, and were keeping the poor injured bicyclist calm and still.

With nothing left to do and the distinct feeling that I'd probably be getting in the way if I tried to help, I simply (cautiously) crossed the street. I was less than a half a block away when the ambulance pulled up with a fire truck and a police car. I took a few deep breaths and went to get my second lunch. I had been totally stunned into silence, and then the nice girl at the counter asked me how my day was going I blurted out the whole thing and almost started crying. She was sympathetic and said nice things like, "Well I'm sure that they are doing everything they can to help that person... how terrible for everyone...(awkward pause)... what can I make for you?"

I ate my second lunch at the office and settled back into work. My hips felt better after the walk but honestly I could not concentrate for the rest of the day. Just before I was leaving my sister called with a wonderful piece of news.

She has learned the name of the ruffly-garter-belt thing that people put on infant girl's heads. This thing is a terrible invention, in my opinion, and anyone who feels like their daughter, dressed in a pink dress, needs to look MORE feminine by putting a lacey garter belt on their head is someone that I definitely cannot relate to.

It is know as a "Fruffle." I think this is short for forehead-ruffle. I want to start a campaign against fruffles- they are hideous.

My hips feel better today. I don't know if the bicyclist is OK- they haven't reported on the accident in the news. It is hard to get the images out of my head of that bike crushed under the tire of the SUV, the bicyclist crumpled on the ground, everyone running into the intersection to try to help. And I can't help but feel sorry for the woman that was driving the SUV, either. She was in tears and everyone was ignoring her. Even if it was her fault- it is not like she did it on purpose. It is a high price to pay for a moment of inattention or stupidity.

Attack of the round-ligament

I started looking pregnant on Monday. I know this is a funny statement- wouldn't you think it would just creep up? Well, maybe. But on Monday about 5 people told me I was "starting to actually look pregnant." And I looked in a full length mirror at school and thought- "Huh. They are right! I do look pregnant." And just on Sunday I had been thinking how I still looked pudgy. So long pudgy!

Oh course, most people are far too nice to tell me that I look pregnant. They are just thinking that I gained a lot of weight over the summer. These are the people that I have not yet bothered to tell that I am pregnant. They'll figure it out any day now, especially at this rate.

Last night my body wised up to the fact that I've started to look pregnant. At about 10pm I started having uncomfortable stabbing type pains in my left lower hip. These pains were kind of like bad gas pains, but not really. Doing certain things (like walking) made it feel better, but other things (like rolling onto my right side) made it worse. This continued all night, which was really not fun and kept me from sleeping very well.

In the morning I was pretty displeased. I set up an appointment (by now the pains were not nearly as annoying) for later in the day. The nurse was nice on the phone. She said I either had a ligament strain, or an ovarian cyst. Hmmmm... neither or those sounded that bad. She said she was glad it was left side, because right side is scarier (think appendix).

Sure enough, after my doctor thoroughly examined me, dopplered our Froggy, poked and prodded, she pronounced my left round ligament to be... grumpy. So what does this mean, doc? It means that my uterus weighs enough to anger the ligaments than hold it in check. It means that I can expect more of this pain in the future, and there is nothing to avoid it. Most importantly, it means that if I just ignore it, it will eventually go away! Perfect! Also, warm compresses are said to be helpful.

Pants are the enemy

I am running out of pant options.

I bought this nice pair of capris in late August while we were in Boise. They are comfortable, lightweight, and cute. They even still fit, thanks to a somewhat unique cut in the waist and rear. Problem? It is getting into the 30s at night here, and days are getting chilly. I can't wear lightweight beige nylon capris forever, and certainly not in the early frigid fall mornings. Besides, dog hair sticks to them really, really badly.

So I've been rummaging through my pants to find a pair that I will still fit. I even got a nice friend of mine to loan me a whole bunch of pairs of pants that are 1 size bigger than my usual size. These pants, too, are starting to not fit very well most of the time.

The rubberband through the buttonholes trick works great if I'm standing or walking, but as soon as I sit down...
a) the zipper gaps unattractively
b) the whole setup becomes rapidly uncomfortable

So I am forced to undo and redo my rubberbanded pants constantly, and this is not fun when you reliably pee once an hour. Or when I'm at home I just give up and wear them unbuttoned and unzipped, which is a great option UNTIL you go out into the yard to toss a bunch of wilted flowers on the compost and your slightly odd middle aged male neighbor accosts you from across the fence wanting to talk about your trip to New Zealand and your chickens. Did I zip and button? Heck no. Did he see my undies? I doubt it, but possible. Lately I've been trying to only wear undies that match my pants, so I was wearing navy blue undies with navy blue pants. Smart, eh? More subtle that way, I figure. Matt has not yet caught on to this but I do expect him to be rather amused.

I've been recommended by a friend a product called the Bella Band. I will look into this- a local boutique (read: grossly overpriced) maternity store carries this product and it supposedly is great for the enlarged but not yet enormous belly. $26 might be a worthwhile investment if it gets me through at least another month. And their website makes it look oooooh so temptingly useful.

YES! They carry this lovely product on Amazon. It is now on my new baby registry, along with the carrot hat I am coveting and the car seat that had really good reviews. MMMMmmmm mmmm baby carrot hat.

I suppose I could just wear my brilliant red high school track sweatpants for the next half of a year. GO FOXES!!!

Quit touching me!

I'm discovering that many things that the baby-prep literature says will happen, despite seeming unlikely, do happen.

1) The queasy sensations did mysteriously disappear almost overnight. My food-weirdness and overly sensitive sense of smell, however, lives on.

2) Friends keep touching me!!!

I'm not anti-touching. I like to hug, pat people's shoulders, hold hands, etc. I don't have an overdeveloped sense of personal space, and I am not weirded out by more clinical touching (masseuses, doctor's annual exams, funky ultrasound wanding, and that sort of thing). But people keep poking and patting me! Matt, of course, is allowed. But seriously, three of my female friends have already thoroughly felt my belly. And they are so quick- it happens before I can do anything about it, despite my reassurance to them that really, it isn't any different yet.

Which is a lie. It is different. I am getting noticeable pudgy from just above my hips to just below my ribline, especially if I wear thin, fitted clothing like a lightweight stylish tee-shirt. In a broadcloth short, or a tunic-style shirt, there is no way you can see this pudginess. But put me in a form fitting tee and I look rotund in the belly region.

I think the best thing for me to do is to get over the touching, right now. I'm sure it will only get more insistent once I look actually pregnant (as opposed to plumply overstuffed). Swatting people's hands is very rude, and being all upset about it will only hurt everyone's feelings. Maybe I should start just inviting people to touch, so that it is marginally a situation in my control.

I can see it now:

"I'm X months/weeks pregnant. It IS really exciting! You wanna touch my uncomfortably bloated torso?"

Techno-naming

I have found the coooooolest website. It is this crazy interactive colored chart of all the American baby names for the last 150-ish years.

It is called the Name Voyager and if you are expecting (or just bored and intrigued) you should definitely go there. I am totally enthralled by it. I wish they had something like that for dog names, too!

Matt and I went through some baby names last night and I was quite pleased at our relatively similar tastes. We first discussed groundrules- no poking fun at the other person's choices, no names in the top 10 list for the last 3 years (being a Matt in a sea of Matts was difficult), names in the top 20 are immediately suspect but not necessarily rejected, nothing with a non-traditional spelling (for instance- Amy but not Aimee) , and no comments like, "I knew an ugly fat kid named that once." Then we went through and each picked out roughly 5 names for each gender, giving us a starting pool of 20 names to discuss. These are not the only names we will try, but they were a nice beginning.

It is interesting that I found it easier to find girl names that I liked, and Matt found it easier to find boy names that he liked. I wonder if that is typical.

We also talked about how we would come to our final decision. I voted for lengthy discussion and agreement, and no bargaining. The whole "you pick the first name, I get the middle name" to me sounds odd and inherently unfair. Matt thought about this and agreed to lengthy discussion and agreement as our technique.

That said, it might come down to coin tosses. :)

Freckles

I tried to wash a freckle off my arm last week. Twice. Then I inspected it- why would I be trying to wash off a freckle? Ahh... because it is a new freckle.

Now, before all you skin-cancer freaks get too excited, it is extremely common for pale skinned women to develop extra freckles while pregnant, and these freckles are not associated with skin cancer. Obviously, you could mistake a cancer-freck for a pregger-freck and thus, I am keeping tabs on the new freckles just in case. But they are not cause for alarm unto themselves and they usually go away post-partum.

I've been meaning to write about this freckle, and I have some downtime today waiting for meetings at school. But now that I look- it is gone! The freckle, which looked just like a tiny smear of dirt on my pasty white forearm, has disappeared as quickly as it arrived. I wonder if it will come back?

On a separate note, turns out a friend of mine from school's wife has almost the same due date as me. Funny! She is apparently feeling very upset and disappointed with being pregnant. I'm glad that I never felt that way... ambivalent on occasion, concerned for sure, but never upset or disappointed. I hope things go smoother as time moves forward- she, like me, is going to start looking pregnant really soon and that could be really hard on someone that isn't in a good mental place.

And I visited the new friend baby (Reuben). Very sweet. Looks a lot like his dad, but with his mom's hair. Sleepy, which was great. He is a little bit small (just under 7 lbs) and that was kinda fun to see- tiny hands! His mom and I got to talk about a whole bunch of baby/labor/pregnancy things, which felt good for me. Matt can't relate to much, clearly, so I like talking to female friends whenever it seems like a good idea. I think I learn a lot that way. Matt spent the time talking about cars, beer, and carpentry with Reuben's dad. Terribly appropriate.

We're having a... frog!

I love this image. I'm not having a baby after all- I'm having a frog that is diving into a hole!

Torso dandruff

The other day I noticed that my skin, in my belly button, was slightly peeley. I don't even know HOW I noticed this, as I virtually never look at my belly button let alone inspect it, but I did.

Today, I noticed that my entire stomach/rib/waist area has a very mild case of dandruff. Like teeny tiny flakes of skin coming off, prolifically. This is kinda funny, and I'm willing to bet it is hormonally caused. Maybe I need to eat more nuts, fish and avocados. I should probably do that anyway.

I inspected other parts of my body for this dandruff- legs, arms, boobs, shoulders and all other areas came up negative. It might be on my back, too, but I can't see back there and Matt is out of town briefly.

In other news, I'm starting to look like I've gained weight in the gut. This does not make me look pregnant- it makes me look like I've been overindulging in ice cream and french fries. My waist is still a waist, but it is higher and starting to fill in a bit. One of my friends took a close inspection of my torso on Sunday and said, "You do look different, but it doesn't make you look pregnant." I agree. It looks more like I've never done a sit-up in my life. And it makes me have to shuffle my capri pants down lower on my body when I sit down for long periods of time.

Salcylic Acid

I read yesterday that I am supposed to avoid using Salcylic Acid containing products. Shoooooot... too late- I use a facial wash containing this, every day.

I looked on the label of my facial wash. Nothing about "not for use by pregnant women." So, what is the deal?

Today I did a search through my books and the internet for other opinions and info. Turns out that a "topical wash" like I use is harmless, while deep acid peels, masks, and full body treatments are a no-no. I can, and will, continue to use the facial wash I've trusted and used for years to keep my low-level zit population under control.

Why couldn't the original article have said that facial wash was OK, but the other stuff is bad?

Jerks.

Early photos

I did take a "before" photo when I was 6 weeks along. It is buried in the camera, in Boise. But I wanted to mention that it DOES exist. Also, I will be taking a 3 month photo very soon, namely on September 15th or 16th even though that will be the start of my 4th month. The camera problem strikes again.

Out of the closet

On Thursday, Matt quasi-accidentally told a whole bunch of people that we are expecting. I was a little surprised, but he was so excited about his "mistake" (I won't go into details, but it was a very cute and honest mistake) that I couldn't get too frustrated. Instead, we just agreed that maybe it was time anyway and before the people HE told somehow told our friends, which then would make our friends be the people to know before our family even knows (such a faux pas), we should just start telling everyone ourselves.

Of course, part of me wanted to wait until the 5th of September as we had planned, so we compromised that if I heard the heartbeat all clear on Friday, and the nurses said everything was doing great, we'd call our parents that night and start the ball rolling.

Appointment on Friday went really smoothly. I heard the heartbeat for about 1/2 a second because my uterus has an "anti-tip" that is genetic (mom and sister have it, too) that makes using the baby-listening doppler wand more challenging. But it was in there, the nurse was satisfied with the heart rate reading she got, and all the other stuff looked/felt great.

So there you go! The baby and the blog are going public!

I'm (we're) back!

We (is it the two of us, or the three of us?) are back at home in lovely Missoula. It is such a relief to be back.

Good news reports;

1) I am still pregnant! And I don't feel vomity right this second!

2) My friend (that had an early miscarriage a year ago) successfully vaginally delivered her baby boy on Tuesday. Hurraaaay!! Labor was apparently not too long or very very difficult, which is great. I plan to make them some delicious fresh muffins and deliver them to their house as a tasty and healthy gift. She and her husband named the baby Reuben Michael. Last name starts with B but I won't write it for privacy reasons.

3) Another more distant friend (in a distant east coast location, and not that close of a friend) after trying to get pregnant for over a year is now four months pregnant. Hurray for her, too!

On that note, the pregnancy is going extremely well by all indications. I get lightly nauseous at times, and I still am sleepy a lot, but that is about it. I had two attacks of acute, overwhelming nausea in New Zealand that were really unpleasant- run to the bathroom kind of moments- but somehow the deep breathing, yucky belching, and positive thoughts allowed me to avoid actually losing my breakfast. Both incidents were (I think) precipitated by not enough breakfast followed by taking all my vitamins at once. Add 30 minutes of stomach rumblings and you get a distinct, urgent, "I'm gonna hurl" kinda reaction.

Since then, I've tried to divide up my vitamins across the day and I've been more careful to balance my breakfast intake. Just cereal and OJ, with intent to eat more in an hour or two, is no good. I need cereal, fresh fruit, yogurt, one vitamin, and a small glass of OJ. Good thing it is fresh local peach season! Mmmm...

I look really pretty much the same as I did before I left, as far as I can tell. Any changes are extremely minor- very minor boob enlargement since mid-July, very minor weight gain that is almost imperceptible, and minimal increase in zits. Matt agrees that I basically plateaued in late July and for the last three or four weeks I've just been moving forward internally, I suppose.

I was worried about the trip home- flight 1hr, flight 12hrs, flight 3hrs, flight 1hr, sleep at friend's house, drive 8hrs, home sweet home. And you know what? It did suck, but not as badly as I thought. I was alternately restless and then exhausted, my ankles swelled up so badly that they looked bruised, I felt nauseous on all the takeoffs and landings, and it was generally unpleasant. But really, now that it is over and done with, it was not bad at all. Who doesn't feel crappy under those conditions? I hardly think that Matt was all that better off! And now we are back and I think I'm pretty much over the time change issues.

I read on the internet that Ziggy (my joke name for the baby, i.e. Ziggy the Zygote) is now roughly 1 1/2 inches long. Interesting. Tomorrow I get my first ever real prenatal exam and they'll do the heartbeat, and some other stuff. I'm excited and nervous about this.

Day off

I'm taking a day off from skiing to rest. I've been hiking/skiing without too much trouble, and very much enjoying it. I do get out of breath pretty fast, which is funny yet annoying. I feel sort of mildly vomity fairly regularly and I do wish that my tiredness would ease up, but to no avail. The OB just said that I need to not over-do it, so when I get fatigued, I take lots of breaks. No problems with this strategy so far!

I haven't gotten noticeably bigger anywhere but the bust keeps growing. Matt's eyes bugged out of his head the other day when I was getting changed. Hilarious.

I'm officially in my third month now. That means that by the end of the month (each medical pregnancy month for my body starts on the 5th) I'll be 1/3 through. That is good to think about. I know I'm getting off really, really easy right now with just being sleepy and mildly nauseous. Sometimes I have no appetite, and sometimes I have a ravenous appetite, which Matt finds baffling and amusing. I don't think it is too funny because when I don't eat, I feel more pukey. But sometimes I desperately don't want to eat. Errrr. I just keep reminding myself- better than puking, better than fainting, better than... better than just about any alternative! It is a sensation like I've been reading in the car for about 30 minutes. Yick.

Matt and I went for a nice hike the other day and WALKING, yes walking, downhill made me motion-sick. It was funny in a bad way. I was walking down a fairly steep grade for a pretty long time and the bobbing up and down of walking steeply downhill made my head start to get woozy and I felt like I might vomit. I told Matt and he looked at me like I'd gone totally nuts. It passed after I took a nice scenic break to look at the mountains and take a photo or two.

New Zealand, pregnant

So far the traveling-while-pregnant has been going surprisingly well. The biggest problem is my general tiredness. I do well for the majority of the time, and then I end up collapsing in a heap of exhaustion at some point. For instance, we skiied for two days successfully, which went extremely well, and each night I was asleep at 8pm and did not wake up until 6:30am. Then, on the third day, I woke up at 7am, ate breakfast, told Matt I needed a nap, slept from 8:45 until 11am, went for an absolutely unbelievably beautiful 4 hour hike, got back, ate dinner, and slept from 7:30pm until 7am the next morning. That is about 15 hours of sleep in a single 24 hour period.

Matt is being very patient with me on this. I send him off to do grocery shopping or email while I nap. It actually doesn't impede on our schedule as much as you might think- I'm usually chipper from about 8am to 5pm (prime skiing/hiking time) and then after that I'm a heap of uselessness. Hot chocolates seem to help, probably blood sugar related.

I don't really see it, but Matt says my waist looks different. Hmmm... I brought only my comfiest, baggiest pants, so I think I just am not noticing. I also left my fairly snug snow pants at home in favor of just wearing Matt's old ski pants. Much better than being uncomfortable.

My boobs continue to grow. Ha! Good thing I got that new lovely sports bra- it is great. Unattractive, but effective.

Such a relief!

Two good things happened today.

1) My friend that wants to have kids sooooooooo much but is facing an unpleasant delay had a big victory today in another realm of her life. She, more than anyone else, is someone I have ambivalent feelings about telling her I am pregnant. I know she will be extremely jealous, and I cannot blame her one bit. I would be too if I was in her shoes. I'm so happy that she had a funny, great thing happy today. Somehow that assuages my fears a tiny tiny bit.

2) A couple that are friends of our that have been trying to get pregnant for over a year told me today that they are expecting in mid- January. Thank god. I feared telling them I am pregnant in a few months and then them not being pregnant, and then them asking "how long were you trying" and then me having to admit it was the first try. Talk about difficult! But they are expecting! Ultrasounds look great! I'm sooooooo excited for them!

Also, my friend with the nice books gave me some nursing bras of hers to try out. One of them is incredibly comfy and fits great. Very exciting! I'm wearing it right now.

D? Good lord.

I told a friend (a recent mother herself) that Matt and I are expecting. This was mostly because she has a million pregnancy and newborn health books but also because I wanted to complain to someone (Matt is out of town). Her mother-in-law is a nurse, too, so I know these books are probably the best books out there. I now am the proud custodian of three pregnancy books- it is a good start.

I was chatting with this friend today and she warned me that the boob thing was bound to get far, far worse. She said she went from 32A (or 32B depending on the brand), to a generous 32C during pregnancy. She then topped out at 32D for the first three months of nursing. Oh my god. She told me that I should just start buying really cheap, fairly unattractive bras because there is no way to tell when the madness will stabilize. Now that her little girl hasn't been nursing for several months, she has shrunk down to a 32A again and says that she is smaller than when she started and can't even wear her pre-pregnancy bras because they all don't fit well.

I need to get a new bra tomorrow, and I suspect it won't be too long until it doesn't fit either. I also need new sports bras ASAP so that I can be comfortable exercising like this. Right now even stairs are an unpleasant experience- too much jiggling.

Can't take a true "before" photo

I normally bloat up about 5 lbs just before I get my period, and some of my more stylish pants and more snug teeshirts don't look quite right for about 3 to 4 days. Then, it goes away. To me, this process has been annoying for around the past 10 years, but no big deal. It has always been the case that all those 5 lbs are located exactly on my normally gently curving belly, which transforms into a bigger, less attractive belly.

My belly is now in a quasi-permanent state of 5lb bloat. Now, I'm not saying that I resent that, I'm actually kind of proud of it for being sort of cute and pre-pre-baby looking. However, I cannot take a proper "before" photo! My "before" state departed about a week after conception, when the only clues were my general weirdness and desire for Good & Plenties. I acquired the 5lb bloat right on schedule, as always, and now... now it is still there. I suspect from what I've read that it should stay just about like that for another two months, and then all hell will break loose and I'll pine for the 5lb days in a haze of increasing unwieldiness.

I guess the first photo will be the 6 week photo. I'll have to wait for Matt to get home to take it properly. If nothing else, my newly enormous hooters are complimenting the bloat. Booooooooobs.

Boobs

My boobs weigh 300 lbs. Each. After about 4 years of 34AA, followed by 5 years of 34A, and then 5 years of 36A, I think I am approaching 36C over the course of two weeks. Certainly at roughly the speed of sound. This is not a comfortable process, and I fear I will need to buy a new bra by the weekend because I am definitely not fitting any of mine, anymore. I keep bumping my upper arms into my boobs, bumping my boobs into things, and I keep thinking everyone MUST be staring at my boobs because good GOD look at them! I feel all booby, all the time.

When Matt comes back from work I fear he will not recognize my torso. "Who are you, and what have you done to my wife's tits?"

Secret Blog

If you create a blog but you don't tell anyone, does it really exist?

I know people will envy us for this, but I never ever ever suspected that Matt and I would successfully fuse our respective gametes on the very first try. Really. The very first try. That seems insane to me, but I guess it seems insane to hundreds of foolish teenagers, too. And you know what? Two days after said successful fusing I thought to myself... "I feel really, really weird. Really weird." and suddenly coffee smelled extremely repulsive.

And then a couple days after that I suddenly wanted to eat about 2 pounds of "Good and Plenty" candies. So I bought a huge box and ate them. So good! Matt started to give me funny looks at that point, and I 'fessed up that I felt really, really weird. He looked at me in a weird, mildly puzzled way. Men!

I've never had a late cycle, ever, by more than 24 hours. Later, after counting on the calendar and discovering I was five days late, I put the pieces together more decisively. My boobs were killing me, I had an inexplicable desire to eat more Good and Plenty candies, I felt mildly carsick when on solid ground about once a day for 15 to 20 minutes, and I felt tremendously bloated. My thought was, "Well now, I should probably go and figure this thing out."



March 11th, here we come!

NOTE TO READERS: because this blog is now "public" this post is no longer quite accurate. It was a secret blog until we told our friends and family about the pregnancy, and now it is a public blog.