Thursday, December 16, 2010

12/14/10 - First toy grab
12/16/10 - First time rolling over! back to front

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Hello!


It's time for a photo. I love my little cutie!

In other news, I still don't really fit back into my pre-preg clothes. At two months I'm still about 10 lbs up from where I started. My jeans will zip (well, the bigger pairs) but I'm all muffin topped. Bleh. But that's not the saddest part. I can lose weight (theoretically) and fit back into my clothes. What I can't do is shrink my feet. They're bigger. None of my heels fit. Tragic. I'll post a picture of all the shoes I'm losing when I finish sorting.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Loving it!

Having a kiddo is so much cooler than I expected. Sure, he eats, sleeps, poops and cries during like 22 hours a day, and the remaining 2 hours are spread out into short bursts of being awake and happy. But he's so cute, and just brings joy to my life! I can't really get over how happy he makes me.

We went to Disneyland yesterday for the first time for Scott. It was equally fun and hard. He seemed to really enjoy the rides. We went on Small World Holiday, Haunted Mansion Holiday and Pirates of the Caribbean. We also watched the fireworks. The hardest part was just navigating through the crowds with the stroller and needing so much stuff. I'll bring less stuff next time, now that I know that half a dozen diapers are good and I don't really need to bring a ton of breast milk. In fact, I'd probably just give him formula next time, since it doesn't require refrigeration and a bit of formula now and again isn't an issue. And really, he might be eating solid foods the next time we go.

In any case, I'm thinking I will only go back to work if I can work some of my half time from home. I do a lot of editing reports and technical writing, so theoretically it's possible. We'll see if they're ok with that.

Long story short, Scott is awesome and I LOVE parenthood.

Scott is 8 weeks and 1 day old :)

Sunday, November 21, 2010

3am musings while pumping

One of the startling things about postpartum was the speed with which I returned to my pre-pregnant state. My nose bleeds stopped immediately. My food cravings vanished, although some of my aversions stayed, no nausea, just a general aversion. My skin is back to normal and my hair is oily again. Fascinating.

I'm up at 3am pumping breast milk. I managed to go out tonight and Scott got previously pumped milk. The side effect of this, that I learned last night at 5am was thatI get engorged if he doesn't eat enough from me in a day. I'm just going to bed (probably a bad plan) now, so I'm being proactive. I just fed him and now I'm pumping. At least last night I got 7.5oz when I did this, we'll see how I do tonight. After about 6 minutes it looks similar to last night.

Pumping, while hands free, isn't exactly graceful and it is really awkward trying to hold a laptop on my lap. The pumps stick out a lot with the bottles and tubes. I'll say it again, awkward.

Fortunately, it's just about time to stop this nonsense an climb into bed with my warm child and husband. :)

Sunday, November 7, 2010

I post so many things to so many different groups of people. I thought I'd say this to everyone.

I have a new little child named Scott. His arrival is allowing me to take 3 months off work. He's also allowing me to drop pretty much all house work for 2 months while I have awesome family come and help me out. He's a relatively easy baby and he's cute and charming, if still fairly non-interactive. Eric is behaving wonderfully toward me and Scott. I am as happy as I've ever been! I am truly enjoying this period in life. Thank you to everyone who has sent gifts, kind words and come to visit (and brought me food!). I have a wonderful family and community. :)

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Eww, gross

I'm enjoying a rare moment of solitude with nothing to do (thanks to all of my really fabulous help around the house from visiting family), a sleeping baby and things returning to my groggy mind to write about.

So I had delusions about writing a book this month as a part of NaNoWriMo. Ha! I did it last year, I will do it again in the future, but a few weeks after giving birth is not the right time to write the book. However, I do think I will turn the contents of this blog and other pregnancy writings I have done into a book someday, so I figured I should write about this stuff while it's still on my mind.

I warn you, it's kinda gross. Stop reading if you don't want to read about gross stuff I went through during and after birth. Really, I'm assuming you will stop reading now if you are squeamish.

You've been warned.

Lots of things about labor were surprising. For one, I didn't know it could go on for 50 hours with only 2cm of dilation. That was unpleasant. It was also surprising to me that I "lost my mucus plug"... and then kept losing more and more. And Mucus Plug and Bloody Show are both really nice terms for what is basically a giant ball of bloody snot. You know that kind of stringy white/clear mucus you get when you're really congested? That's kind of what it was like, but with blood. All in all, I probably noticed about an oranges worth of that stuff over a 30 hour period. I expected the first tablespoon of it to be the bulk, but it just kept coming! Odd.

Oh, and then there was the matter of my "water breaking". I have friends who had it break to start labor. And in birth class they told me that it would probably not break until I was in the hospital already, around 4-5cm dilated. And of course there was always the possibility that it would be broken to progress labor. But I wasn't really prepared for what did happen. It didn't break. At all. In fact, when Scott's head first started to crown, the doctor and nurse were both a little confused at how odd it looked. Not enough to tell me at the time, but it was odd. Finally my doctor figured out that all my membranes were still in tact and she cut them. If she hadn't done that, Scott probably would have come out in a fully intact bag of fluid. That's super odd. So my water never broke.

After you give birth, they sew you up. I think I got one stitch, but I didn't ask. I'll try and find out at my follow up doctor visit. Afterwards, I sat on the bed for a while, and eventually when enough feeling had returned to my legs, they told me to try and stand. I had my catheter removed a little while before that, so first order of business was to go to the bathroom. Let me tell you, you have no shame in the moments after birth, but it's still a little odd to have someone walk you into the bathroom. Ah, but then you see why. You have zero control of your bladder after giving birth. I didn't really pee until I got to the toilet, but it just sorta went. And boy was it gross. So much blood. And then I had a very nice nurse explain to me how to clean myself up with a squirt bottle because wiping was going to be too painful. These things they don't tell you when you are pregnant. Labor, sure, you learn about. But losing all bladder control after birth for a good day was odd. I didn't pee myself, but but still.

Finally, it's now 3.5 weeks later and things still hurt. I am still bleeding bright red blood with some clots, although a very small amount of it at this point. No fun. My dining room chairs are uncomfortable for extended periods of time. At least Scott won't let me sit down and eat for more than 10 minutes, he just knows when I'm ready to eat... or done. I'd like to be healed, but I guess that's why they say 6 weeks healing time.

Ok, that's the update for now. Not so much of an update, but things I didn't want to forget, because it's all this gross and uncomfortable stuff that you forget about in order to talk yourself into having more children.

Monday, November 1, 2010

Milestones!

Woo! So Scott has finally gotten off the nipple shield. He and I went cold turkey yesterday and although it was a bit of a fight, he seems to have come through to the other side none worse for the wear. He's even starting to get the hang of self latching. In fact, I cried last night when he did it for the first time successfully.

In other news, he was awake from 7:30am-3:00pm with only about 45 minutes of nap in there. That's a long time. Especially since I'm on solo night duty for 3 nights. I'm pretty exhausted.

And I need a shower.

But he's sleeping now and that's a good thing. :)

Also, he's now been alive in two different months. He survived his first holiday fairly uneventfully. I'm excited about all of the future holidays we get to have together too!

Scott is 19 days old.

Saturday, October 30, 2010

An Update

When I'm sitting and nursing Scott, I think of all of these things I'd like to write about here. But when I get a free moment and I sit down at my computer I don't feel like writing. So here's a summary, some of which I may expand on later, but no promises.

Good things:
  • I get it. Motherhood and all that. It's awesome and I'm so enjoying these first few weeks.
  • I'm so much more patient than I expected to be. I can handle the crying, I just want him to be happy.
  • Swaddling and The Happiest Baby on the Block are good things!
  • Having a swing is really useful.
  • Cosleeping is way less scary than I expected, it actually makes sleeping better.
Less than good things:
  • I am tired. I get way more sleep than most mothers I know and yet I'm still tired.
  • Scott nurses a lot. Upwards of 4 hours a day. It's boring.
  • I've stopped dropping 2 lbs a day, sad. I'll have to lose the last bit of weight slowly.
  • Having a baby hurts, in unfortunate ways, for weeks. Boo to that.
In any case, I'm really enjoying this, and despite how hard all of this is and all the pain and frustration, I'm actually thinking about how soon we will do it again. I'm pretty sure that we will be making him a little brother or sister in the next couple of years. I think that must mean this is really good stuff, to want to go through it all again, even being in the throws of the pain of it.

Scott is 17 days old.

Monday, October 18, 2010

Doing better!

Ok! Things are much better.

First, my mom started stepping in and doing a lot of things that Eric and I aren't terribly good at yet. She's kept the crying to a minimum and that's been awesome.

Second, I have gotten Scott to latch, as long as I use a nipple shield. It's not the most comfortable way to nurse, but both he and I are getting better at it. Plus, I'm super excited to be breastfeeding at all that it's awesome.

I'm also continuing to pump and I'm on day 3 of it. On day 1, I could pump about an ounce at a go. Day 2, 2 oz at a go. Now, we're up to 3 oz at a go. :) I know women that can do way more than that, but I also know women that do less, so I'm happy to be able to feed my kid and stock away extra milk at the same day. So I have 10 oz in the fridge and no need for it except a fussy baby today. :) I'll start freezing soon.

So that's my update. We're all doing better! I don't have much else to say. I'm still not quite ready for visitors, but soon!

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Not fair

Birth story to come, when I can think about it.

In the mean time, short version. I had a baby that went straight into the NICU after birth. He had a tear in his lungs during his first breath and ended up with air in his chest. As a result, he spent the last 3+ days in the care of other people. As a result, he ended up getting formula from a bottle. Now, he won't latch and breast feed without a lactation consultant standing over me and helping. Even my husband and mother trying to play the part of the consultant doesn't do it. I've spent the last two feedings with a SCREAMING child who calms down completely when he is given a bottle.

I'm so worn out and sad because of this. And my mom keeps reading me stuff from the breastfeeding book about how if a baby is given a bottle he'll have tons of trouble latching. NOT HELPFUL. No kidding, I didn't want this to happen. But what was I going to say? I wish he could have had formula from my breast, but he couldn't. My milk is in, it's not like he's trying to eat nothing, he's just not interested in the breast. The bottle is all he knows. He's eaten from the breast twice.

Great.

Just great.

Monday, October 11, 2010

If you'd asked me Sunday night, I would have bet that I wouldn't have Sprat for another couple of days. Then in the early morning hours of Monday I would have bet it would be Monday. Now I'm back to thinking Tuesday or so.

I'm exhausted. Like, haven't gotten a full sleep cycle in days exhausted. But when I tried to sleep tonight I kept being woken up by contractions.

I'm going on about 20 hours of labor now. I'm bored.

Days Pregnant: 9 months
Days to go: Probably less than one

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Getting it

There are so many situations in life that are really hard to "get" unless you're in them yourself. I knew pregnancy was one of those, as every step along the way I slowly start to understand the things that have been explained to me by people that have gone through it.

I'm now in the end game portion of pregnancy. I'm past 39 weeks and I really could have this baby any day. I'd been told that sleeping toward the end just got impossible. I didn't understand why but I get it now. I wake up every 45 minutes all night long. Every time I roll over I wake up because it's uncomfortable to move. I wake up in a little pain and think "is this a contraction?" and even if I can conclusively answer yes to that, I then wonder if it's labor and I can't answer that one.

I have contractions, definitively. But do they count as labor? Not yet anyway. I'm waiting for them to become regular. I'm waiting to lose my mucus plug. I'm waiting for my water to break. This is the waiting game. And I'm exhausted. I was only in bed last night for just over 7 hours because trying to continue to go back to sleep gets exhausting in itself. Trying to talk myself back to sleep is hard.

So now that I'm up, I don't think I'm in labor, as expected. But I'm still waiting and paying attention.

Days Pregnant: 275
Days to go: 5?

Monday, October 4, 2010

Today is my first day of maternity leave. I slept in (until 8:30), went and got a pedicure and now I'm enjoying some TV.

I'm reminding myself not to get use to this because this glorious and restful period isn't going to last very long. But while it lasts, I like it.

Days Pregnant: 269
Days to go: 11

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

False Labor!

I had some false labor last night

So, I'm fairly sure I had about 8 hours of contractions yesterday. The first 4ish hours were kind of questionable to me because it was really just me noticing more fetal movement and sometimes noticing that my entire stomach had gotten really hard. There was no real sensation to it, certainly no pain. At least, the first several hours were like that.

After a few hours they got uncomfortable, but still not painful. But they were intense enough that it became a good idea to finally pack my birth bag. I had to stop and breathe every so often while walking around and collecting things.

I will say that it was really hard to try and time the contractions. They were fairly indistinct as it was, but Sprat really didn't like them, so he'd respond by moving when they were over and stretching out, causing various parts of my stomach to be hard because of the bones behind them.

At no point did I think I was in real labor, but I looked at it from a cautious angle and spent the time getting ready in case real labor did start. I went to bed because that seemed to make sense. When I woke up a few hours later to pee I did have another contraction, but they've stopped this morning.

Hopefully this means my uterus is getting nice and strong and labor will be easy and straight forward.

What an adventure!

Monday, September 27, 2010

Last monday morning at work in 2010!!

Could this really be it, my last Monday morning at work this year?

I keep thinking I'm ready to have this baby already, but I think I'm just misdirecting my real desire. I think what I really mean is "I can't wait to stop coming to work while pregnant". I maybe just need to take a break from work in general. I don't know how most people do this year in and year out. Three weeks off a year would be fine if I could take it in one block every year and still be able to take the odd day here and there too. But I feel overworked and drained. Burned out.

So three months of maternity leave sounds just perfect, and being so close is making me antsy!

Sprat can stay in for another few weeks, that'd be great, but Mommy would like October to be here NOW.

My last thought of the morning: I don't mind it when people call me mommy. It's something I need to get use to. :)

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Progress!

Progress!

As of today:
I'm full term
The car seat is installed
I've finally ordered a bunch of diapers (will be here on Monday)
I bought a breast pump
I got a diaper genie
The cradle mattress is here
The cradle sheets are being made
All newborn to 3 month sized baby clothes have been washed
The mural in the nursery is going along brilliantly, but will require at least 1 more session

And I've gotten too big for many of my maternity clothes, and most of my shoes. =P

Days Pregnant: 264
Days to go: 16


Wednesday, September 22, 2010

I am happy, but I had a sad morning.

So which is sadder:

A) I spent ~2 hours yesterday making cupcakes. They turned out cool, I'll post a picture eventually I hope. But then I brought them into work in my new, clearly ineffective cupcake carrier, and they ALL fell over.

or B) When I went to pick them up and right them (keep in mind, the frosting got EVERYWHERE), one fell out as soon as I opened it and first hit my jeans and then fell on the floor, frosting and all. And I don't have a washing machine, and we don't really have an ETA for one. "Early October" is all I know.

Sad morning. Cupcake tragedies, left and right.

Monday, September 20, 2010

Walking Dead

I am so tired.

So very very tired.

I was tired in the first trimester from growing a person. Now I'm tired in the last month from growing a person, waking up every 2-3 hours and being unable to get enough sleep. I think I got 5.5 hours last night. That may not sound like an exhausting level, but I need more than that as a normal, functional adult.

Now I'm getting scared about having a child. When I'll need to wake up with the same frequency, but tend to someone else. I will be able to do it, I have no fear of that. But during the daytime when I'm suppose to be functional, who knows. Now I'm REALLY glad I will have help for the first 6ish weeks.

Zzzzz.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

This seems like a totally ridiculous time to be posting this...

Two of my friends from high school are pregnant. One is due about 2 weeks before I am and the other about 5 days after. That's just insane to me. How did I get to 8 months pregnant before I learned this? I guess the answer is that I haven't seen either of these women in years and I don't stalk facebook enough. But seriously, we're all having boys and it's just crazy to me how life works out.

In any case, pregnancy is motoring along. I'm a lazy bum and it's getting to Eric who is trying very hard not to complain at me about being pregnant, and does a very good job most of the time. I'm just about at 1 month out and it's crazy to me. There is still a lot to do, but the list is shrinking! The mural for the nursery will be started this weekend and we'll probably install the car seat soon after that. I'm having a friend make me cradle sheets and I'm going to pick out the fabric for that today! We're interviewing pediatricians next week and we've identified a few day care possibilities to check out in the next couple weeks as well.

I'm sleepy.

Days Pregnant: A lot
Days to go: A month

Thursday, September 9, 2010

I'm generally a confident person. It results in me being self assured, and rarely admitting to weakness or situations where I'm not sure of myself.

When people ask me if I'm ready for this kid, I usually reply that I don't have a car seat yet, but overall I'm pretty good.

I'm fairly sure that's a lie. I am the youngest, I've never babysat, never fed an infant a bottle, never changed a diaper and I don't know how to interact with little people. My boss brought his 3 year old grand kids by my office today and I was kind of deer in headlights. I mean, I know I'll learn as I go, and that there's some sort of maternal instinct that will kick in, but really, I'm kinda terrified. Or at least, unprepared.

On the bright side, I don't think waiting to have kids any later in life would have made me more prepared or less terrified. So, yeah, in 5ish weeks, here I go!

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Please get some scholarships

I'm currently making arrangements to go to my 5 year reunion at my college. I will be paying off my student loans for the next 10 years. And yet, today, I started to think about the saving I need to do for my child to go to college. Apparently I grew up sometime in the last x months/years. Not only am I ready to be a parent (ok, that's mildly questionable, but I don't have a choice, so I'm claiming it), I'm thinking to 18 years in the future when Sprat will be going off to college and how we'll pay for it.

Wow.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

One interesting thing to me about pregnancy is that any parent feels like they can talk to me about it. I'm sort of amazed at how the farther along in pregnancy I get, the more people feel comfortable talking to me, even if they don't really know my name. At least at work.

Most of the time, this is pretty awesome. I'm a social person who is slightly shy, so once conversation is initiated, I'm pretty happy. But this also backfires. There are people at work that I don't really like and I'd rather not talk to who now feel like it's open season to talk to me. And about semi-personal stuff too. I daily hear that I must be close and it's gotta be uncomfortable to be me now. Actually, I'm doing pretty well and I still have more than 5 weeks. I should be at work for the next 4. Plus, I'm giant, but I've seen way bigger people and I may still grow a ton. I'm not really complaining, more just commenting that people are funny.

Although I will say that I didn't get enough sleep last night and my first interaction with people today was with a group of people that I'd rather avoid at work. Someone looked at me and asked/informed me if/that I must be getting close now, and I just glared at him and told him that I'm not a morning person and to try that comment again later. The group of men just laughed and all said that they remember their wives at this stage. I'm not usually a bitch, and I think I've been really not-moody all things considered. I think women get cranky toward the end of pregnancy because people just say really odd things to them. Men in particular. They just look at me like "oh man, you're going to get so much worse." Pfft to you.

I suppose I have been warned of this. And I hear that it only gets more intense when you actually have a baby. From what I've been told, babies belong to the world and I need to be cool with that. I'm glad I'm a mostly laid back person. :)

In any case, I'm still doing well.

Days Pregnant: 244
Days to go: 36

Monday, September 6, 2010

Pregnancy is ok

I have a friend who just had a baby via surrogacy. She really hated being pregnant. I'm not sure about what quite went wrong with her pregnancy (besides the obvious that it ended 3 months early, but their kid is just fine several years later). But I thought I would comment that I don't really mind being pregnant. I need to whine about stuff a little mostly so that when I'm too worn out from painting for 2 days and doing a FULL day of shopping Eric understand when I'm too lazy too do stuff. But on the whole, I'm healthy and doing great. I think it's that health thing. Not having any complications (normal weight gain, fine blood pressure, no protein in my urine) makes pregnancy way way easier. I means sure, after a day on my feet they swell up HUGE, and I don't have any kind of serious stamina for stuff, but pregnancy is treating me well. I enjoy feeling Sprat wiggle around and in general life is good.

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Excuse the profanity.

Holy crap this pregnancy got rough! I enjoyed 2.5 blissful weeks thinking I wasn't going to have awful symptoms and then everything hit at once. I'm exhausted, nauseous, not interested in eating, run down (presumably from the not eating), having issues falling asleep and so not enjoying any of it.

Oh yeah, and I'm still in charge of a 9 month old. Thankfully Eric has stepped up and taken up some of the slack, but I'm worried what's gonna happen when I go back into the normal week tomorrow. I don't know how I'm going to manage to get through a workday or through a day at home with the munchkin. Add to that, I'm trying to wean and so I need to be feeding him more food and nursing less (which is convenient since my milk supply has dropped since I got pregnant) but I have no energy to feed him and I'm so overwhelmed.

Pfft, this pregnant with a little one thing is tough! Yeah.

Six weeks pregnant now. Maybe more, I'll probably find out the results of my blood draw tomorrow. And I'll make an OB appointment tomorrow, I have the referral now.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

This and that

I'm starting to feel the drain of waking up at 6:30 every day. I'm particularly tired today. Even after going home early on Monday and napping.

I have one more month at work. My goal is to make October 1 my last day until the week before Christmas (where I plan on working 1-2 days, just to get the 6 days of holiday).

I'm getting all of the arrangements for my family visiting worked out. It's a long and drawn out process because even though I started asking these questions months ago, flights are just being booked now. It's complicated. But I think it'll work out.

I'm getting some grief from my mother and my mother-in-law about my SERIOUS lack of childbirth prep. One wants me to go take Bradley. The other wants me to do Hypnobirth. I think they're both right, and that I do need to be way more prepared than I currently am for the birth, but I also think that if I spend my extra energy taking care of myself and unpacking my house I'll be a lot better off. The baby will come out of me one way or another, and I'll be under medical care regardless. I'm also incredibly stubborn, so if I think I'm doing this naturally, that's probably how it's going to go. It may be hard on me, but if I come home to a chaotic, still boxed house, I think that will be harder. Moral of this story, bad childbirth class plus moving 2 months out was the wrong combination. Also, I need to find a pediatrician.

On a high note, that new bra that I bought last week really does seem to be comfortable. I am glad I finally found something that I like well enough.

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Bad internal clock

Usually I like that I am the byproduct of my parents. But one trait that I picked up from my dad is a really good internal clock.

I have been waking up at 6:30 all week to leave the house by 7am. Today is Saturday and I was suppose to catch up on sleep from the 7ish hours I got each night all week. But instead I woke up at 6:34. I'm not super perky, I'm just awake and unable to go back to sleep.

Being pregnant sure isn't helping that.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Bras and things

This is a post about bras.

You've been warned.

So, my boobs are trying to fall down and my belly is trying to push them back up again. It makes for an uncomfortable bra experience as there is virtually no space betwixt anymore. So I've tried different bras that I own, different combinations of times throughout the day (sleeping a bra, not sleeping in one, sports bras 24-7, sports bras at night... etc).

Then Victoria's Secret came out with the Incredible Bra. Now, since I've been bombarded with advertising for it, I started to ask my friends if anyone had tried it on. Having found a friend who not only tried it on, but bought it and was wearing it right then, I decided to go check it out.

I liked it. On first wearing, it seems to be everything they claimed it would be. Bra straps stay in place, padded well around under wire, seamless. Not only was it comfortable, but I actually managed to keep and bring with me the little $10 off a bra card for Victoria's Secret. So I bought one, and got the free pair of underwear too, which are also surprisingly comfortable. Now, of course, I somehow managed to buy the wrong size (band size too small), so I'm using my bra extender with it. But I think in the long run I may be more interested in the smaller size anyway because once I stop having baby pushing up into my rib cage I may go back to the smaller band size anyway.

Don't know if this is my long term bra solution, but I feel the most supported and the least squished I have in months and that's a good thing.

Days Pregnant: 232
Days to go: 48

Monday, August 23, 2010

On Moving, not so much on baby

First and foremost, Eric is amazing. I can't believe how much work he did this weekend, and without complaint, and never yelled at me about being a lazy pregnant lady (although I was only lazy by normal person standards... I too worked hard and pushed it). And then he woke up early this morning with me and helped me unload his car so he could take mine into the shop for some recall work. It's been a while since I thought "Wow, I'm lucky to have him", but this weekend was some of that.

So, we moved! Hiring movers was FANTASTIC. In 7hours and 10 minutes all our stuff (ok, 98% of our stuff) moved from point A to point B. The new house is SO much bigger than the old apartment. With the garage and extra bedrooms and extra living space and GIANT dining room, we are super spread out. I imagine it'll first fill up and then empty out as we get all our stuff unpacked.

I spent yesterday trying desperately to unpack things. But here's the deal with unpacking while pregnant. I can't really move anything. So if there is a stack of boxes and I want to get at the 3rd one down, I have to unpack the two on top of it first. So I did a lot of unpacking the topmost boxes where they were. This meant a lot more running back and forth than I would have otherwise done, thereby leading me to get worn out even faster. But I watched a movie and then 2 episodes of TV yesterday (on the DVD player, no satellite set up yet), and for the most part I'd watch 10-15 minutes and then go unpack another box or so. I also managed to run the dish washer 3 times and actually make most of our plates and cups clean (maybe 1-2 more loads to go).

Here's the real problem I've hit. The kitchen is technically bigger than the old one, but it's organized completely differently, so I'm having a very hard time figuring out where things go. Also, the bathrooms are WAY smaller, so I have to be really careful about what actually goes into each bathroom. The long term (1 month??) plan is to get me an old school vanity that will live in the master (there's space for it!), and it'll hold all my hair and make-up products. But I have a lot of stuff. A lot. And I currently haven't unpacked ANY of it, besides what fits in a quart sized bag. Pfft.

Also, all of the rooms that are getting furniture screwed to the walls need to be painted still. Which means that the easy stuff to unpack (books, DVDs, etc), can't get unpacked because we A) don't know where the bookcases are going exactly, and B) will just need to move things in a month when we have painting help again. Not that I could move the book box anyway.

The new house is SO quiet. Anyone have a good noise machine recommendation? I'm good with the iphone app solution for now, but I think in the long term I want a more sophisticated machine.

Lastly, anyone in San Diego want to come hang out at my house some night this week or next week and keep me motivated? I figured out that I'm much more productive if I have someone else around to entertain me. It could also be helpful if you'd move boxes for me so I don't have to run around as much.

Days Pregnant:229
Days to go:51

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Yes, for real

I moved! And I'm huge! And I'll write a real post with pictures someday after I have Internet again, but for now while I'm posting from my phone, I give you this.

Some areas of skin are a different color than the rest. Palms are light, nipples are dark. I always thought belly buttons were dark too... until today. My belly button is almost flat, and it is super easy to get to the bottom of it now. I'd actually tried in the past to invert it enough to get to the bottom but it was really hard. Well today in the shower, I really cleaned my belly button. It turns out, it is just normal skin color.

And that's what I got.

Monday, August 16, 2010

Hard work is hard

Two quotes from Eric this morning:
1. You look like death.
2. This must be what it's like to be pregnant, you just hurt all over.

This weekend we really took possession of the new house. Thankfully, we have some truly remarkable friends who spent many hours with us over two days stripping wallpaper and painting two rooms. It was a LOT of work, but the babies room is done (except for the forthcoming mural), the dining room is void of flowery wallpaper (and most of the glue/paper stuck to the walls too!!), and the front living room is now green instead of two tone purple.

In terms of how this work was on my pregnant body, the short answer is hard. I didn't work as hard as everyone else, or work with toxic chemicals, but I did work about as hard as I was capable of for 2 solid days. Today my quads burn and my feet hurt and I'd like to spend the day laying down, except that hurts too.


In completely unrelated news, one of my coworkers (or building mates, I'm not sure), has a peach tree and approximately every 3 days there has been a bag of fresh peaches in the lunch room. Peaches are not a fruit that is very good in the typical San Diego grocery store. They're super hard and bitter and to get sweet they have to get really squishy. These peaches are nice and firm and super sweet and juicy. I've probably eaten a third of the peaches that have been in the lunch room myself and they're so amazing. I need to leave the peach tree owner a note :)

And there we have it for Monday morning.

Friday, August 13, 2010

Under Appreciated Mothers

I don't think I do enough for my mother. I think mothers in our society are grossly under appreciated.

Why this new thought pattern? Well, this week the fetal movement is starting to get painful. It's like someone shoved a foot and a half long, dexterous, multi pound person inside of me right where all of my organs are. Ouch. And hey, I get another 8-10 weeks for it to get bigger and cause more havoc.

So I asked my go to source for all pregnancy related things if she had pain from fetal movement, and of course she did. And she reminded me that some women have their ribs broken. And when the kid is out, it breastfeeds (at least mine will) and they bite and pinch and cause other pain when they're on the outside.

And today I'm having serious acid reflux.

I think my honeymoon phase of the second trimester may be over.

Don't get me wrong, I'm still glad I'm doing all of this, just, appreciate your mother more than you do.

Days Pregnant: 219
Days to go: 61

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

This all started because I'm tired and I want a coke.

Last night I had some acid reflux, so I curled up propped up a bit on an extra pillow and watched TV in bed with Eric. Then he turned off the TV and we both lay there and fell asleep. After a nap, Eric woke me up to tell me to go take my contacts out. A great plan! Also, getting into pajamas and brushing my teeth would be good too.

So I got ready for bed and climbed back into bed. But in round 2, nothing was comfortable. Being propped up hurt my back and laying on my normal pillow caused too much heartburn. And thus is (one of) the plague(s) of pregnant women everywhere.

I had a coworker stop me in the halls to congratulate me and ask me how I was doing. He is the father of two children and had such gems to tell me as "No one understands a mother's burden." Not even my own mother it seems.

Being pregnant now is awesome in a lot of ways. Modern maternity clothes are awesome and fairly easy to find. They're flattering and stylish. My medical care is also super good and it's been easy to follow whatever their recommendations are.

On the other hand, no caffeine, no alcohol, no smoking, no sushi, no roller coasters... all of these are things that would have just been part of life 50 years ago. And I wouldn't have to worry about getting the carseat installed and checked out by the fire department either. I'm super exhausted today, but I'm not a stay at home wife so I don't get to relax. I have to plow through work and try and get everything here done. Because if I don't, that's stressful and stress is bad too.

I use to think that I really liked living in the era that I do, but I'm not so sure anymore. Although I've been using solidworks all afternoon to make a really awesome 3D renering of one of my systems at work and that's really satisfying.

In any case, things.

Friday, July 30, 2010

SAD

This is going to sound really stupid, but I think I have Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD).

I know I live in San Diego. I know it's summer. But we've had SO little sun lately, and SO much grey, and I spend all day at work inside during the only times that it MIGHT be sunny in an interior office or lab. I miss the sun and I think it's making me clinically depressed. I think that's why life has been so hard lately too.

I'm really glad we're moving inland where there will be more sun :)


Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Problem identified, now I need a solution

I think I've figured something out, part of the reason I'm so stressed.

My life is no longer compartmentalized. It use to be that I left work at work. I didn't think about it when I went home and that stress and work stayed waiting for me to come in the next day. Now it's on the back of my mind all the time. Things at work are stressful and overwhelming and I'm sort of always running that program in the background.

Home doesn't stay at home either. I'm constantly thinking about house dilemmas and issues. I'm also worrying about the trust we're setting up and trying to work out details in the background.

My computer of a brain has slowed way down from all the overloading.

And, of course, pregnancy is kind of a 24/7 gig too. Last night I failed to sleep with my body pillow for part of the night and when I tried to roll over in the middle of the night I woke up in excruciating pain from my hip. Trying to move and being unable to from pain is unpleasant to the point of scary.

Weekends, while semi-lazy aren't the mind clearing experience they should be. I'm always wound too tight, but it's reached new levels lately.

I'm so ready for October, when work will be on serious hold, the house will be ours and moving will be over and hopefully the trust will be complete. I'm going to relish the joy of only one thing I'm trying to juggle, despite how big a thing that may be.

Days Pregnant: 202
Days to go: 78

Monday, July 26, 2010

Short Fuse

I'm so incredibly on edge these days. It's really easy to get on my bad side and make me SUPER pissed off or even on the verge of tears. I've broken down crying at work from stress and it's probably going to happen again.

And I'm mad at nearly all of my support network, for one reason or another. I'm mad at my coworkers and I'm mad at all but like 4 of my friends. There are actually only about 5 people interact with regularly that I can think of that haven't in some way sent me into a rage lately. No matter how kind or well intending people are, I'm hormonal and there's very little I can do to stop being pissed off.

Now, for the most part I haven't actually snapped at anyone, but I am not doing well regardless. Walking around fuming with a smile on my face leads to a pretty unsatisfactory mood. In fact, keeping things bottled is probably making me stay mad LONGER because I don't feel like I have an outlet.

In any case, if I snap at you or I don't, please just tread lightly and remember that it's not my fault, it' s my hormones.

Friday, July 23, 2010

Post 100 and the pregnacy pain super hero

This is post 100!

And today's topic is again, the magic that it is to have a friend who understand what I'm doing wrong that's causing my body to hurt.

"Hey Lolly, my hip hurts. How do I fix it?"
"Where does it hurt, the top or the side?"
"Uh, I guess, the side."
"And is it muscle or bone? Does it ache or is it sharp pain"
"I'm not sure, it hurts when I move it."
"Ok, you're balance has shifted so you're using muscles in incorrect ways. Try to make sure you don't stick your let out to the side. Focus on walking with your legs straight in front of you and not off to the side, and when you get in and out of a chair, try to use both legs evenly and don't tilt."

5 minutes later I get up out of a chair, per her recommendations and low and behold, my hip, which has been aching like the Dickens all morning, doesn't hurt as much. Amazing!

Thanks Dance Major Lolly! You're my pregnancy pain superhero.

Days Pregnant: A lot
Days to go: way fewer

Monday, July 19, 2010

Braxton Hicks contractions have started.

Ok, another reason to be off caffeine, braxton hicks contractions.

I've been having them for a couple of days (maybe longer if I really think about it). They're infrequent, short and not that bad, but they do hurt. Apparently caffeine can make them worse.

Pfft.

Sleep, caffeine and confessions

Confession time: I intended to use caffeine sparingly in pregnancy. I pretty much went without through the first trimester. I did pretty well most of the second trimester only having caffeine two or three times a week, if that. And low quantities when I did have it. But the last month or so had gotten pretty bad. I was still on low quantities, but I had gotten into having it basically every day.

So then I read this article: http://i.lifehacker.com/5585217/what-caffeine-actually-does-to-your-brain

The very next day I gave caffeine up again. So now I'm on day 5 of no caffeine (you know, besides the stuff in chocolate... I'm still eating it I suppose). But life is hectic and I'm pregnant and not sleeping enough. On Sunday, the only day I reasonably could have slept in in the last 5 days, I woke up at 6:30am. That's a major bummer. And then I had a long day yesterday and got to bed at 1am. I could have slept in today, but I had to get to work.

And then this morning I get this article: http://www.newsweek.com/2010/06/18/the-surprising-toll-of-sleep-deprivation.html

Neither of these specifically address pregnancy, but I'm really out of it today. I would love a nap, but about 95% of the time when I try to nap, I can't sleep. I'm just not a napper right now.

But according to the first article, all caffeine dependency is gone after 10 days of abstinence. I'm going to go at least that long and see how I feel. I'm hoping that I feel good and don't turn back to it, at least on any regular basis, for the rest of the pregnancy.

Sorry mom.

Days Pregnant: 194
Days to go: 86

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Leg Hair Growth

Today's post brought to you by the wide world of "Wait, what?"

It seems that my leg hair has nearly stopped growing. Only my leg hair. Everything else is either growing normally or faster than normal. But my leg hair... basically non-existent right now. I shave every 4-5 days... when I remember. It has been most of a week since I last shaved my legs and the hair on them is like my usual one day growth.

Odd, but convenient given that it's getting hot and I have some shorts and skirts now.

That's all.

Days Pregnant: 189
Days to go: 91

Friday, July 9, 2010

Throat Ache

I can't decide if my heartburn is causing the morning sickness at this point or if the morning sickness is causing the heartburn. In either case, my throat hurts and I feel ill. What should I take for throat burning from acid?

I have about 3 months to go. That's a very intense mix of good and bad. Good because I still have time to be by myself (I will really miss that), we're moving and I have time to get ready for that and get good sleep (mostly), we still have a lot to do before Sprat gets here and lot of other reasons. But I'm starting to see why the second trimester was the easy phase. Trimester 3 is a lot like 1 was but with an ever expanding stomach and a lot more pain.

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Bad Chair!

Just a quick thought.

This morning I went to a meeting somewhere new. I sat in absolutely the most uncomfortable chair I've encountered in my pregnancy for probably 90 minutes. (To be fair, the chair was probably fine, it just didn't work for me during pregnancy) My back is in utter anguish now. I don't know how to rectify that if I encounter the problem again. But this cannot happen again.

Days Pregnant: 183
Days to go: 97

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

This and that

Today critter kicked my back for the first time. Or at least, I noticed him kicking my back for the first time. Good times man.

I had a rough pregnancy day. Lunch didn't stay down and it made for a very awkward afternoon meeting (all day meeting).

I also noticed that I had trouble regulating my temperature today. In fact, it was oddly specific. My hands, feet, face and neck were too hot while my arms were cold. Putting my sweater on just made my hands warmer and didn't change my arms much. Pfft.

Also, I miss drinking now. I went a good 5 months without missing it, but I keep going to events where I'd really like a beer or glass of wine. Oh well, a few more months. And such a good reason :)

Days Pregnant: 182
Days to go: 98

Monday, July 5, 2010

Stupid back

There are a lot of things about pregnancy that I mentally prepared for prior to getting pregnant. Giving up alcohol, caffeine (mostly), junk food (mostly)... those are things you know are coming. Morning sickness and needing to pee, also anticipated.

Back pain that started around month 4, not so much. My back pain is migrating. :/

I'm in week 25. I have 15 more weeks of growing and shifting and changing, and probably more back pain.

I'll get a prenatal massage soon.

Days Pregnant: 180
Days to go: 100

P.S. Oh crap. 100 days to go.

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Berries, that's my craving

Wow, foods that I like eating are SO good.

I am super enjoying summer with the fruit and the berries. I've eaten my weight in fruit in the last couple of months. Yum!

Days Pregnant: 178
Days to go: 102

Monday, June 28, 2010

Overwhelmed

Good things!:
  • I bought a house (I know, whoa!)
  • I'm almost out of my second trimester
  • Baby shower planning has begun (no dates yet)
  • We finally started a registry (please don't go look for it yet)
Not so good things:
  • Work is hard. My project is over budget and over schedule. I'm the "manager" and we just had a meeting about it. I'm stressed.
  • We bought a house. All good, but it's a LOT of work to get from our offer being accepted to the close of escrow. Stress, time, money.
  • Dad is recovering from major surgery and he's on my mind. I want him to get well. He doesn't even know we bought a house yet.
  • The registry needs work and I need to do more research on nearly everything.


I am overwhelmed in a way I'm having a hard time dealing with at the moment. I'm sure that college was harder than this at times. In fact, my most common answer to "How are you?" in college was "overwhelmed." It might just be my go to word for when I'm not doing well but answering "poopy" doesn't seem appropriate. Especially because life nearly always has some good stuff going on. There is SO much good in my life right now that I'm actually on the positive side of things, but the good stuff is stressful too. It's all just a lot to deal with. I have the time to unwind, but I don't know how. In the pre-pregnancy days I would have just had half a bottle of wine and felt much better. I can't do that today. I don't have a good way to unwind and it's just making me wound tighter.

And when I'm overwhelmed and stressed, baby kicks. I'd like to believe it's a comforting, "I'm here for ya mama" kind of reaction, but I think it's him getting freaked out too. It doesn't calm me down.

Oh, one final bright side: I'm healthy. So's kiddo. That's something that I really can be thankful for.

Days Pregnant: 173

Days to go: 107

Saturday, June 26, 2010

Nose bleeds continue

Not so fun way to freak out your husband: Getting a nose bleed in the shower. He looked at me with crazy eyes and then calmed down and informed me that I had a nose bleed. But his first thought was "Holy cow, your face is covered in blood".

At least this one stopped really quickly.

Days Pregnant: 171
Days to go: 109

Friday, June 25, 2010

Food is complicated and will continue to be so

Pregnancy is an adventure in nutrition. At the beginning it was just about getting enough calories as I dropped pounds and had trouble holding down food. Now that I'm mostly doing better with that (with a few exceptions here and there), I've been trying to eat a well balanced diet, getting enough of the important things and eating junk in moderation. Now, this should be something that I just do in life, but eating for 2 (in terms of nutrition, not calories) certainly helped to accelerate the process.

Earlier this week I went to a seminar talk on nutrition. Some of the things the speaker talked about were straight forward to me and things I already do. Avoid "fake" sugars like aspartame (although he said that stevia is good, I think in 10 years he'll go back on that idea), avoid fried foods, avoid farmed fish, avoid processed carbs, avoid high fructose corn syrup, drinking enough water, etc.

And then he said some things that sounded more off the wall to me, like limiting whole grains and avoiding dairy. Dairy? No, that can't be right, no one argues that dairy is good for you. Do they?

So that piece of information I took with a grain of salt and decided to look it up. Apparently there is some serious debate about the benefits of dairy. My 26 year long belief that enough dairy will help build my bones is probably wrong. For example, this website. They reference all sorts of international studies where the countries with the highest milk consumption are often the ones with the highest rates of osteoporosis. Really? That's not good.

But I'm pregnant. And my memory is that if I don't get enough calcium in my diet, my child will leech it out of my bones and teeth. I'm not even sure if that's true now. But there are so many things out there done by the national dairy council that I don't know what to believe anymore. I've been working so hard to introduce more dairy into my diet, and maybe that was the wrong idea. I have no idea.

Between pesticides on produce, hormones in meat and milk and all of the artificial things that are put into my food, I feel like there are pitfalls left and right. Real food takes time. I need to learn to readjust my thinking about food and learn to spend the time and effort required to not only go shop for the good things (because I believe they are out there), but continue to stay on top of the research so I know what the good things are. Then I need to understand that eating well will require me to devote time and thought into the planning and preparation of good meals. I know it can be done, and I'm confident that I can do it without thinking of it as a burden, but I'm not there yet.

This morning I ate multigrain cheerios with 1% organic milk and some organic greek yogurt. And I've had water to drink, probably around 16 oz in the last 2.5 hours since I woke up. If I had presented this to myself a few years ago I would have been proud at how "healthy" I was eating, but today I'm not so sure.

Next Adventure: Registering, a whole new can of worms!

Days Pregnant: 170
Days to go: 110

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Glowing

Lately, the thing I keep hearing from my coworkers as they hear that I am pregnant and approach me about it is that I am glowing. What does this mean? I really don't get this phrase. I appreciate that they are trying to find a way to compliment me and I just take it lightly. But really, it's an odd thing that we tell pregnant women. I'm not typically beaming with happiness over this (I mean I am, but it's not like I walk around at work with a big grin on my face) and my skin isn't actually any more luminous.

I was curious, so I went and googled this. I found another pregnancy blog where someone had done some research and had come up with this:

Your skin does take on a glow - and there is a physiological explanation for it. As your blood volume increases throughout your pregnancy, superficial blood vessels carry more blood which can be seen on your face. In addition, your oil glands are secreting more, so you naturally have a glow without any additional exertion.

Pfft. I appreciate the compliments, but I feel like glowing is a silly word. Especially since my skin is the LEAST oily it's been since I was a little kid.

Anyway, apparently I'm glowing.

Days Pregnant: 167
Days to go: 113

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Where'd my abs go?

There are so many parts of being pregnant that I just didn't anticipate. Like the bloody nose thing. Another one, that's becoming more irritating the farther along I get, is my semi-significant lack of ab muscles. I can't lift things, getting up off the floor is harder, rolling over in bed is requiring the use of arms and legs and life is generally more obnoxious. One irritating side effect: leaning over at the sink to brush my teeth or wash my face hurts. I can't always bend in half as far as I need to go because there is something in the way and sometimes it hurts when I can go as far as I need to.

I'm going to have my work cut out for me getting back in shape.

Flying while Pregnant

Flying while pregnant is fine. With a couple of exceptions anyway. The flight to Hawaii was seriously a nightmare. In front of me I had two grown adults who didn't sleep but insisted on reclining their seats all the way. I got a break from it during dinner when they asked everyone to sit up. Behind me I had a little kid who was maybe 1 year old who was allowed to repeatedly kick my seat, play with the tray table and sometimes nursed. Reclining into a woman who is trying to nurse is terrible. Also, reclining was not a comfortable position for me anyway. So I had so little space in my seat that I couldn't even open my laptop all the way. Maybe I could have if I hadn't been pregnant, but the laptop couldn't slide any closer to me to get open. Pfft. Oh and did I mention the screaming kid in the next isle over? Not so much a restful start to a vacation.

But I just thought that was bad. Ha. The flight home got delayed so late that it went from a 1pm departure time to a MIDNIGHT departure time. That means instead of landing at 9pm we landed at 8am. A red eye while pregnant is just absurd. I still couldn't recline and I can't really lay on my back. Oh, and I had 2 seats (thank you extremely nice desk agent!!) to myself, but I couldn't bring my knees up far enough to lay down on them. Pffft. Not being able to bend in half is obnoxious.

Oh well, I'm here, have slept 11 hours in my own bed (nap and night's sleep) and now I'm feeling human again. And when I mention it to people they just tell me to get use to being sleep deprived. Yay kids!.

Swollen Feet!

This post will start the series of posts that I wanted to make while I was on vacation but never got around to writing.

June 10
Ok, so most of my pregnancy symptoms have been fairly mild. I had morning sickness, but it was more of a general bickering with food and less an all out war. I had exhaustion, but I managed to get to work every day. I have an increased sense of smell, but for the most part it didn't impact my life. Nose bleeds were pretty sever, but workable.

Today, I have a SERIOUS problem. My feet and ankles are SO swollen. I'm sure it's because it's hot and humid here and I'm spending a lot of time either sitting or standing. But man, I can't believe that my ankles actually doubled in size they way they have. It's absurd.

Update: I'm home, back to colder, dryer weather and my feet are back to normal now, 36 hours after getting home. My ankles are still a little puffy, but I'm not even sure I would have noticed it if they hadn't puffed up so big a week ago.

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Seat on the bus

Well, my first stranger discussed being pregnant with me today. I'd potentially be sad that I don't just look fat anymore, but this was an older lady (like, the generation above me) who gave up her seat on the bus because I am pregnant. Very sweet and a nice first discussion of my pregnancy. Now, what about all the other passengers around her? Yeah, lots of them should be ashamed that an old woman (her words, not mine) had to give up her seat to the pregnant lady. Shame on you guys in your twenties and thirties.

And I'm staying with some very nice people while I'm on vacation. One of them commented to me that I look more pregnant than when I got there. I've been here 4 days. Heh. So I'm in that stage.

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

More uncommon pregnancy symptoms

I guess these aren't really all that uncommon, but they aren't often talked about anyway. I mean, compared to throwing up and needing to only lay on your side, these seem pretty minimal.

First, I'm itchy. Not just where my skin is stretching out, although certainly there, but EVERYWHERE. Particularly my arms and legs, but maybe those are just the easiest to reach and so they get the most attention. I actually scratched a patch of my upper belly raw this morning. Lotion helps, but does not make it go away. I'm hopeful that the really humid air in Hawaii next week will help!

Second, I just noticed that my belly is covered in hair. I knew this was a possibility, but I hadn't previously noticed any hair there. Ah, it's there today. But the internet tells me that it's safe to wax and it's relatively sparse, so I will be taking care of that today. It is pretty dark though, so even though it's sparse, I'm excited it's easy enough to remove. Ppfft.

These uncommon symptoms aren't as entertaining as the fetal movement.

Days Pregnant: 149
Days to go: 131

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

My poor little brain

I've never really been interested in politics. I mean, some stuff really gets me rallied up, like the recent ballot measures about gay marriage. But my husband just made me vote (I use the term "made me" loosely, I semi wanted to do it myself) and there were so many things on this primary ballot that just didn't seem important enough to care about. For example, I had to vote for county superintendent of schools. There were about 10 names on the ballot, none of whom I knew anything about. My husband did a bunch of research about all the issues and sometimes I voted with him, sometimes I voted against him and sometimes I just didn't vote. Meh.

Ok, not a post about politics. The main reason that I don't care about things like politics or social issues right now is that my brain is full. I'm not really stressed out about anything but there are so many things on my mind. I mean, it's all normal new parent type stuff, and like I said, I'm not actually stressed yet, but so much on my brain!

  • What I'm eating. I'm still struggling with this. I want to eat good things, but I don't always have them. Blah.
  • What I will feed my kid. How will I manage to breast feed when I go back to work? Will I even be able to? And after that, how do I nurture someone who wants to eat good real food? What if my kid has allergies?
  • Where will my baby sleep? A crib? A bassinet? Co-sleeping in my bed? I don't function well without enough sleep, can I do this?
  • Does continuing to work after he is born really make sense? I've got good benefits and if we ever want to afford a house I should have an income. Also, I'd probably go crazy at home.
  • Who will take care of my kid when I'm at work? How will we select a child care facility? Can we afford it?
  • Should I be exercising more? I'm having intermittent back pain and I'm starting to gain real weight. Would yoga help that? It's not convenient, is it really worth it?
  • How do you change a baby boy's diaper? How frequently is he going to pee in my face? Does elimination communication work well with boys?
There's probably more, but those are the things floating around in my head today. I'm also living with all of the normal adult responsibilities like paying bills and grocery shopping and cleaning. This is a whole new chapter of life and I really wish I'd had more training for it. I wish I had taken Home Economics where I could have learned how to balance a budget (not the math part, the budgeting part) and maybe how to care for a baby. I never even had the sack of flour or egg project. I have zero experience. I took one couple of day course on babysitting put on by the Red Cross when I was 11. That's the entire extent of my childcare knowledge. I've never babysat, I'm the youngest, until Jan 2009 I had never know a baby personally. And all family is far away.

I want to do this, I'm excited by the challenge, but I'm a little overwhelmed. And I don't think my husband is as worried as I am. After all, he's spending his extra research hours looking up things to vote on. I guess divide and conquer is a good strategy.

So how old are you?

So, to date exactly one person has said anything about the possibility of me being pregnant. And looking back on it, I'm not even really sure I interpreted that conversation correctly. In any case, I've had to tell everyone and virtually everyone has acted really surprised and told me I'm not really showing. Phooie, I am. My waist is now 12 inches larger than when I got pregnant. That's a LOT.

The reason for the post though, is that I keep having the conversation with people at my company. To be fair, they all started working at the company somewhere around the time I was born (within a few years), so they are clearly my elders. That said, all of them are super touchy about commenting on my weight or how I look, but about half of them have felt it ok to ask me my age. I feel like you never ask a woman what she weighs or how old she is. Now, I don't care, and they all know I've only been out of college a few years, I just find it odd that no one asks if I'm pregnant but they're all ok talking about my age.

Just a note.

Days Pregnant: 148
Days to go: 132

Monday, May 31, 2010

Diapers

I started trying to write this out nicely, but it got long. I'm just going to say it.

I'm planning on using disposable diapers. I understand all the benefits of cloth diapering (better than you might expect), and they don't outweigh the cost of the extra work they require. They are substantially more work than disposable diapers. And they require more work of exactly the sort I don't feel like doing. I respect cloth diapering and I think it's cool that we live in a modern era that gives mothers so many options for cloth diapers. There are super cool products like flushable diaper liners that make it less work, but I'm still not interested. We also live in a cool modern era that's working really hard to decrease the environmental impact of disposable diapers.

In any case, if you want to see where I'm getting most of my info, it's coming from a friend of mine. Her blog is here diapertrials.livejournal.com. It's full of lots of good information. She has used disposable diapers, cloth diapers and even elimination communication. Her daughter is almost a year and a half. The blog is new, but her research and diligence are not. Since I know her in person and I've been around since the birth of her daughter, I've gotten a lot of this information first hand. It's just given me a good amount of information and I know that I'm making an informed decision instead of just the easy one. I don't feel like I'm a bad person for choosing the disposable diaper route.

That's all for today :)

Days pregnant: 147
Days to go: 133

Thursday, May 27, 2010

E-mails?

I send out weekly e-mails to family and friends with Pregnancy updates. The thoughts are generally more organized and baby centered than the stuff I write here. Does anyone want to be added to the e-mail list?

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

It's all real

It's all feeling real now. I know that I've been walking a fine line of trying not to get too excited about things but also trying to be as healthy and pregnancy minded as possible.

Now, knowing the gender and feeling my little boy wiggle around all the time, it's so real. I'm pregnant. :) I actually feel really joyful and excited instead of just stoic. This kid is moving around a lot too. "Hi mom, I'm here... really really."

Whoa boy

So, in the beginning I was losing weight. I didn't want to eat, I couldn't keep down food if I did eat too much and all I wanted was fresh fruits and veggies.

Things have changed. Now I eat everything! All the time. I seriously eat almost continuously from like 9am until 6pm. I taper off in the evening. I want to be grazing all day long. I'm also drinking a TON of water. At least 64 oz in a day, often more. I've gained all the weight I lost back. I'm just about at my pre-pregnancy weight, maybe 1 lb over.

I'm feeling a little fat when it comes down to it. Boo.

The word is in!

The word is in.

We're having a boy!

And I'm halfway!

Days pregnant: 140
Days to go: 140

Monday, May 24, 2010

Movement!!

Ok, I'm feeling fetal movement... really really. I'm sure I was feeling it before, but it's so obvious what is going on now and it's really fun!

On Friday, I was pushed my stomach to see if I could feel something and something pushed back! Like, a forceful, get out of here push. It was super cool. I couldn't get it to repeat, but still neat. And then last night I was laying down and feeling wiggling and I had my husband come over and feel my belly and he was able to feel our little mango for the first time (it's mango sized this week). And when he felt it, I could seriously feel it too.

Today's the big ultrasound. I'm so ready to know!

Days Pregnant: 139
Days to go: 141

Thursday, May 20, 2010

I'm ok

When people ask me how I am, my most common answer is "I'm ok". This isn't me being self-righteous or even not wanting to burden people with how I'm feeling, it's more a matter of I don't know how to explain what I'm feeling. At the beginning I had heartburn. Then there was some nausea. Those things were easy enough to explain. Now, my general bad feeling is just sort of icky. I'm not exactly nauseous, but my stomach doesn't feel good. It's not really pain, it's just sort of well, ickiness. Given all the time in the world and all the words in my head, I still can't come up with a good way to explain it. I would like to take a nap, but I'm not tired. I would like to lay down, but that would actually make me nauseous.

My head sort of hurts, but not really a headache. My stomach sort of feels uncomfortable, but not nausea or a stomach pain. I'm worn out but not tired. I'm stiff and achy without it really hurting. I'm pregnant? I dunno.

I guess that's what I mean by ok. I'm good enough and I don't want to explain it.

Childbirth Classes

Whoa. New overwhelming thing to research! Childbirth classes.

Ok, this is kind of a DUH moment, but I feel like after the miscarriages, I stopped planning ahead. I didn't want to let myself get excited again with this pregnancy, so I'm just taking things one day at a time. Well, I'm almost half way through (19 weeks now) and I guess it's time to start planning ahead. Yes, things can still go wrong, but I need to think to the future.

In the last week I have had several different people bring to my attention the fact that I need to start looking into childbirth classes. Ok! No problem, I'll get right on that. Wait, what's hypnobirthing? As it turns out, there are many types of childbirth classes. I wanted to find a book on the topic, but I was unable to. I just want something comparing the various options to me. I did find an article! http://www.pregnancytoday.com/articles/birth-methods-and-philosophies/childbirth-class-comparison-5135/

I'm not sure it really helps, but at least it gives me some sense. For example, as much as I think I want a natural birth, I don't really want anyone calling my contractions "energy surges". And I'm all about having my baby in a hospital. My hospital is cool because I will get a dedicated nurse, so that's pretty rad. I want to be prepared, but not in a new-agey sort of way. I still think I need to do more research, but right now I have a better sense of what is to come.

I'm still a little overwhelmed by it all. And it's the kind of thing that I need to make the decision about on my own. I'm waiting for that magic decision that needs to be made that I don't need to make!

Days Pregnant: 135
Days to go: 145

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

I'm getting rounder

As of today:

I can no longer see my feet when I'm standing up straight and I look down.

My waist is 10 inches larger (give or take) than when I found out I was pregnant.

Woo!

Days Pregnant: A lot
Days to go: A lot plus a few

Monday, May 17, 2010

Non-alcoholic Champagne Comparisons

Ok, I've now had occasion to try two different varieties of non-alcoholic champagne and they are NOT created equal. My reviews:

Ariel Non Alcoholic Brut Cuvee: By itself this is basically undrinkable. It's thick and syrupy, which is not a desirable quality in champagne. It is overly sweet and has an unappealing artificial after taste. Fortunately for me, I put this champagne in a mimosa and it wasn't awful, but I was heavy handed with the orange juice. It did make it sparkling, but that's the best I can say for it.

Fre Non Alcoholic Brut: This was delicious by itself. I had several other people try it and the consensus was that it really did taste like a light and fruity sparkling wine. It was wonderful and refreshing. It had notes of pear and apple without being overwhelmingly fruit juice like the way the Fre Merlot was. I drank most of a bottle myself over 6 hours.

Days Pregnant: 132
Days to go: 148

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Oh man, I'm starting to enjoy my semi-frequent spa visits. I've gotten two pedicures and a massage in the last 6 weeks. It's pretty wonderful to be pampered.

And it's starting to feel justified. I am starting to have a harder time getting up off the floor. I've always had the opinion that I'm not too old to sit on the floor and I do it often. At theme parks, at home, at other people's houses. While I still don't think I'm too old, I may be starting to get too pregnant. I'm not saying I'm going to stop, but it's getting more difficult to get up anyway.

Days Pregnant: 131
Days to go: 149

Look how close those numbers are getting to each other!

Friday, May 14, 2010

Gross

Ewww, gross. Stop reading now and spare yourself this post.


You've been properly warned, this is gross. I woke up this morning to another bloody nose. Except, instead of bleeding out my face, it was bleeding back down my throat. I have a habit of spitting in the morning to clear my throat of any phlegm that my have built up. This morning, huge blood clot. Followed by several more over the next few minutes. I felt like I was bleeding so much from my mouth that I must have knocked out a tooth, but the blood was coming from the back of my mouth and not my teeth. I managed to get a tiny amount of blood to come out one nostril just to make sure it really was a nose bleed, and I'm right. Yucky! It also robbed me of my last hour of sleep. I am not a fan.

Days Pregnant: 129
Days to go: 151

Thursday, May 13, 2010

What do we have here?

Let's see, I've been slacking with the blog haven't I.

Well, the big news, someone finally looked at me today and was like "Whoa, you're pregnant." Not in so many words, but I entered a meeting with a client that I haven't seen in like 8 months and he looked at me and said "What do we have here?" Which I interpreted as the kind male way of saying, you're round, how far along are you. I answered 4 months pregnant and he said congratulations.

I think that means I owe a belly picture. I'll take one tonight or tomorrow.

I think that's the big update for today.

Days Pregnant: 128
Days to go: 152

Saturday, May 8, 2010

Nose bleeds

Two annoying symptoms that you don't often hear about with pregnancy. Nasal congestion and nose bleeds.

Yes, nose bleeds. I first had one in Vegas. That one made sense to me as it was very dry there and I flew to get there, also a dry environment. Today I got one that lasted for 20 minutes. I kid you not. And it was after leaving a steam room of all things. (And for those of you concerned, I was in the steam room for no more than 3 minutes) There was nothing dry about the spa I was at.

And now, I'm trying to sleep, because I'm exhausted and worn out and need more sleep. But when I lay down to go to sleep, I noticed that I was SUPER congested and even had a runny nose. No, not runny, bloody. This is obnoxious. The congestion isn't fun, but at least it's normal ish and there are things I can do to make it better. The bleeding, not so much. I hope this doesn't continue to be an ongoing problem.

In other news, I ate 10 different kinds of fruit today. And one sad little vegetable.

Days Pregnant: 123
Days to go: 157

Friday, May 7, 2010

Non-alcoholic wine

I have discovered Non-Alcoholic Wine! Wine is made and then they distill the wine and remove the alcohol and replace the removed liquid with water and juices. The resulting beverage is less than 0.5% alcohol by volume. And before you start to tell me that it still counts, you're right and I know that. But, there is as much alcohol in a glass of non-alcoholic wine as there is in a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice. And no one would caution me about drinking that.

So I started with a bottle of merlot. Meh, it was a little too fruity and not particularly merlot like. I got online and read some reviews and discovered that the consensus is that naturally fruitier varieties of wine are better sans alcohol. I am currently trying my first glass of white zin and it's not bad. It's certainly something I can pour for myself at functions and feel like I'm getting to enjoy the fun. I'm also going to try to make a non-alcoholic sangria! I also have two bottles of champagne that I will start trying on Mother's day. I'm pretty excited, I love champagne!

That's my update for today.

Days Pregnant: 122
Days to go: 158

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

It is extremely unfortunate to have brushing your teeth lead to nausea, and have that nausea lead to serious throwing up, to then be faced with the concept that you really need to brush your teeth again when it had such a disastrous outcome the first time you tried it.

In other news, I'm getting really anxious to find out the gender of my little avocado. I need to wait 3 more weeks. I've been taking those "old wives tale" quizzes online and depending on the quiz I get both answers. I have my intuition about it, but I can't tell if it's what I believe I'm having or if it's what I want to have. Bah. I'm tired of waiting.

Yesterday I finally found the preservative free version of the H1N1 vaccine. I know, seriously, who is still concerned about it? Basically my doctor told me that I'd probably just need to end up getting it in the fall, and that my immune system won't be as strong then. So I found the version they wanted me to get and I went and got it. It was so painless! At least, at first. But by the time I went to bed my arm ached a bunch. So that meant that last night I was down to sleeping on my right side only. I really miss sleeping on my stomach and my back. I will be happy when my arm stops hurting and I at least have options again.

That's enough for today.

Days Pregnant: 119
Days to go: 161

Monday, May 3, 2010

The pregnancy progresses

This morning I was all cranky. But time has healed that wound and I'm left quite pleased.

This morning I heard my baby's heartbeat for the first time. I didn't think this appointment was going to be a big deal. I thought it was an excuse to get me in again to draw my blood (ok, it probably was). But I heard the heartbeat. It's not so much that the heartbeat was anything special, but knowing that he or she is growing and thriving and that all the little tickling I've been feeling probably has been fetal movement is awesome.

Things are going well, and I am happy!

Rant!

Let me start this with something positive. I met a new doctor in my medical group this morning and she was fabulous. Very friendly answered my questions like she was talking to a peer and good bedside manner.

Now, I'm going to complain. I got to my 8:30am doctor's appointment at 8:28am. I left a urine sample and at 8:35am I was called back by a nurse. Weight, blood pressure and a few simple questions later I was left in an exam room with the words "The Doctor will be right in". After 40 minutes sitting and waiting, during which time I read a magazine and took a brief nap, the doctor finally came in. "I'm sorry, I got called away to surgery this morning and there wasn't time to call my patients and cancel or tell them to come in later."

Wow, really? I'm in this group of 7 doctors and the best solution to, hey, her doctor isn't here is to leave me sitting alone in an exam room with no explanation? Know what she did? She took a Doppler and listened to my stomach (heart rate of 165-170, yay!) and answered questions for 5 minutes for me. That's it. Someone else could have done that, delayed their schedule for a few minutes and I could have gotten on with my day. Oh, and then I needed my blood drawn. You know how long that all took? 15 minutes. I could have gotten my blood drawn WHILE I waited for the absent doctor and not delayed my morning even further.

Ok, I'm probably hormonal, and my blood sugar was low because I didn't eat before the doctor's visit. Boo. I'm irritated.

Days Pregnant: 117
Days to go: 163

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Life is now getting in the way

For weeks and weeks my pregnancy was interfering with my regular life. Now my regular life is interfering with my pregnancy. Not in any kind of bad way, just in a, my brain is in a million other places.

Life News:
First, we're looking for a house. Over the weekend we found one we liked and we placed an offer this week. I'll post more about it if we get it, but it's sort of unlikely. At least we're playing.

Next, there were some layoffs at my company on Friday. I lost a good friend and I also lost a coworker that was incredibly difficult to work with. All in all, it's kind of a wash, but it was a hectic day and gave me things to think about.

Thirdly, I have multiple art projects I'm working on right now. Two scrapbooks for bachelorette parties I went to. And then 3 shirts I'm making for a team competition at the end of May at Disneyland. These are all projects that are super fun and exciting, but also time consuming.

Pregnancy News:
I think, I'm pretty sure, I'm feeling movement. It started late last week. Then yesterday I felt like I was being tickled from the inside. Specifically while I had some loud music playing it felt like something was wiggling around inside of me. Exciting!

I need more maternity clothes. Specifically, maternity shirts. I have a bunch, but I don't do laundry frequently enough. Sure, maybe this has a simple solution, but I don't LIKE doing laundry any more often than I already do it, so I want my solution to be more clothing. I'm wary of buying stuff online and the stores around me really don't have that many options. Target, despite popular belief, does not really have a very large maternity section. I'm not looking for yoga pants or more tank tops, I just need more short and long sleeved shirts. The basics, you know. Motherhood Maternity has some good stuff, but it is expensive if it hasn't gone on sale. Also, I actually have more than I will currently wear, but it's stuff that will look really cute in a couple of months and looks like a tent now. It's hard game.

I'm doing better with food. Smells are still making me nauseous, but I haven't actually gotten sick in what seems like a while. It may only be a week or even less, but time is being measured with much more attention now. I'm also getting to the store to buy good food more often. And if we get the new house, there will be a grocery store 3 minutes away!

Ok, that's my update.

Days Pregnant: 111
Days to go: 169

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Meat, mmm?

Ok, I started this thing for several reasons, one of which was to have a record of what I'm going through with this pregnancy. That's why I talked about the miscarriages. And that's why I'm going to post below. Stop reading now if you don't want to read anything gross.

Somehow I kinda doubt anyone stopped reading. Ok the topic is vomiting. You ready to stop yet?

My diet has been trending more and more toward a vegetarian and even vegan diet. Here's the problem, I've never even considered doing it normally so I don't know what I'm doing. I'm not trying to be vegetarian, it's just that all I want to eat are fruits and veggies. The real problem with this is that I'm not getting enough calories, not anywhere near enough. I woke up today so run down. I ate a huge lunch, a salad with tomatoes and black berries and poppyseed dressing, a big container of fruit with carmel dip and a hard boiled egg. It was a ton of food, but not a ton of calories. Besides the salad dressing and the quarter of the egg yolk that I ate, it didn't have any fat either. I was run down when I woke up, and by an hour after lunch I was light headed and dizzy. I left work and came home to try and feel better. I decided that I needed to eat, so first I had a piece of beef jerkey. I know it's on my no list, but I didn't have another easy source of protein right then so I just ate it. I also had wheat thins and cream cheese because it seemed like foods I haven't eaten in a while.

For the last hour I've felt like utter garbage. Finally, I had some water and it pushed me over the edge. I just completely emptied the contents of stomach and threw up all of that afternoon snack. Damnit body! There has to be some level of easy food that I can eat that's not a vegetable and doesn't make me throw up. I'm at 15 weeks, this is not how this is suppose to work. I'm frustrated and angry.

I'm going to try to have a burger from in and out for dinner. It's got some fresh veggies on it and a lot of protein and calories to boot. I'm SO hopeful that it stays down. I'm also hoping it makes me feel better because I'm sick of eating something that isn't a salad and feeling bad after.

And it's game night. Meaning my house is about to be full of people that are gathering to play a board game. We host this every week. I had to clean up my house while feeling exhausted and nauseous. And now I need to put on a happy face and play a game. At least the game is taboo and I can sit curled up on the couch with a blanket. That's a good game for me right now.

Ok, rant over.

Spidey Senses? Super Senses?

My spidey senses are tingling.

It's been established that I have an increased sense of smell. Along with that goes my increased sense of taste. The unexpected one that's happening is my increased sensitivity to earthquakes. Like, I notice them... all the time. I've felt two already today. One woke me up in the middle of the night. This happens regularly.

The increased senses of smell and taste make sense. The earthquake thing does not. *shrug*

A post, in two parts

Two part post today:

Part I: New Bad Smells
Last night I went out to dinner with Eric to something called "Wild Game Month" at one of our favorite restaurants. It consisted of a four course pre-fix menu that included some wild produce and quail, venison and boar. Not my favorite food ever, but the venison was in a soup and was really quite delicious. Everything was going fine until we hit the boar coarse. The food was in front of me for about three seconds when I realized that something was terribly, horribly wrong. I tried to eat a few of the things on my plate before I realized that I was being bothered by the smell of the bacon that was wrapped around the boar. It was some kind of smoked bacon and it was Horrid. I haven't had too many moments in this pregnancy of the cliche pregnant woman behavior, but last night I had that moment. I literally pushed the food away and dove into my virgin mojito to cleanse my pallet of the offensive smell. It was one of the more nauseating things I've encountered in the last 3ish months.

Fortunately, our waitress was pretty awesome and quickly saw what I had done and boxed up my plate of food. Unfortunately, whenever Eric was cutting or otherwise moving the bacon on his plate the smell hit me full force.

So my growing list of foods/smells I can't deal with: Garlic, Bacon, anything smoked.


Part II: I don't know when it happened, but I woke up today just completely run down. It took me an hour to talk myself into coming to work today. And I only did that because there were a few things that really needed to get done TODAY. But I'm half way through my tasks and I intend to go home in a couple of hours. I really need a day off it seems. I've been pushing too hard and I apparently have hit the wall.

Days Pregnant: 106
Days to go: 174

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

1 in 100

I just read a really staggering statistic. About 1% of the American population is composed of pregnant women. At first I was like that's huge, there's no way that's true. But then I thought about it more. So ~50% (maybe 51%?) of the American population is female. That means that each woman must spend 2% of her life pregnant for that statistic to be true. Let's say that I live for 100 years, to be easy. That means I only need to spend 2 years of my life pregnant, or I must be pregnant for 2.7 kids. Accounting for the women that never have children and the women that have a dozen children, that's probably about right.

Statistics are neat. And apparently I'm only 1 in 100 right now.

Days Pregnant: 105
Days to go: 175

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

The whos and the whys

I need to amend something about my previous post.

I don't know how much I believe about that list of things I can't have. It's easy enough to avoid the seafood because I don't like anything but fish and I'm ok eating low mercury fish exclusively. And the processed meats can be heated and so I can eat those. But my point is, the reason I'm being so OCD about all of this is my mother.

Whenever I am typing away on my computer, my husband asks me if I am writing about whatever recent skirmish we've had. The answer to that is always a no. That's not the point of this blog. We hardly ever fight about anything pregnancy related.

My mother, on the other hand, fights with me regularly. Usually it's just her nagging me to do more things or not to do things, but lately it's gotten more heated. Yes, she is a very good resource for me and I trust her opinions, but it's also sort of driving me crazy.

For example: Caffeine. After my reading of lots of things, I don't believe that small quantities of caffeine will be any problem for me or my fetus. A coke (made with sugar) here or there or an arnold palmer is just fine. In fact, given my lack of energy, it seems appropriate. But my mom does not believe this. She wants me to be 100% off caffeine, probably to the point of limiting my chocolate intake. She keeps telling me to go look it up. I have and I don't agree with her.

But you know what, as much as I fight with people in my life, I don't actually enjoy it. I talk to my mom a lot and I rely on her for her knowledge and advice. Fighting with her is irritating to both of us and is straining our relationship. Since after months of it she isn't budging that means that I'm the one who has to change.

And thus, the previous post and list. I may not buy into everything on that list, but it's a comprehensive list of everything I've come across that I'm trying to abide by. It's driving me crazy to do it, but I'm trying. But mom, I'm also MUCH crankier because of it, so cut me some slack.

Big list of things I can't have

I think this is more for me than it is for you, but I'm going to compile a big list of foods that I'm not suppose to eat and why. I'm going to put them in what I consider the order of seriousness. Some are based on scientific fact, some are based on "old wives tales" which may or may not have some scientific basis, depends on how much I feel like researching.

-Alcohol - Can cause fetal alcohol syndrome.which can cause facial deformities, heart problems, low birth weight and mental retardation.
-Seafood High in Mercury - Too much mercury may damage your baby's developing nervous system.
* Swordfish
* Shark
* King mackerel
* Tilefish
-Raw, undercooked or smoked seafood - To avoid ingesting harmful bacteria or viruses
-Processed Meats (unless heated to steaming hot) - They can be sources of a rare but potentially serious food-borne illness known as listeriosis.
* Hot Dogs
* Lunch Meats
* Beef Jerky - may also contain toxoplasmosis.
-Soft Unpasteurized Cheeses - Also may contain listeriosis.
-Unpasteurized Juices - Also may contain listeriosis.
-Raw or undercooked eggs - May contain bacteria like salmonella.
-Unwashed fruits and vegetables - May be contaminated with bacteria like salmonella.
-Caffeine - Varying schools of thought, but everyone agrees that too much can cause low birth weight, miscarriage or still birth. Lower quantities are up for debate.
-Herbal Teas - The herbs in them may cause premature contractions.
-Pineapples and pineapple juice - May cause premature contractions.

There might be more but that's all my sad little brain can handle right now. Maybe I'll update as I keep researching and find out that I also can't eat jelly beans or white rice.

Days Pregnant: 104
Days to go: 176

Monday, April 19, 2010

Beef Jerky, I want you

Seriously, there are MORE foods I can't eat.

Over the weekend I bought beef jerky. For several years it was my #1 favorite snack and I ate a TON of it. I overdosed on it though and haven't had any for a while. Well, here I am, eating goldfish crackers and I thought, I can do better. So I bought fresh fruits and veggies to keep at work and I'm doing well with eating that kind of food. But meat has been a challenge, and I need more protein and iron. So I got beef jerky.

And then I went and looked it up this morning. There are two concerns with Beef Jerky. The first is Toxoplasmosis, which can be gotten from undercooked meats and from cats (cat boxes in particular). Well, that one is ok, because like chicken pox, once you've gotten it, you're immune. In my 25 years of pre-pregnant life I've probably eaten 100 lbs or more of beef jerky and cleaned a cat box in excess of 1000 times. If I was going to get it, I've already gotten it. But the second concern is Listeria. My god, Listeria may be my new least favorite thing in the world (right now). Soft cheeses, lunch meats, and now Beef Jerky are all on the list for issues with this stupid bacteria. I'm really cranky.

I'm still asking my mom what her thoughts on beef jerky are, but it looks like this large costco sized package (that admittedly I did eat a small piece of while I started to look it up) will go to waste. I'm so freaking frustrated. Knowledge is not power, knowledge is annoying.

As I add to the list of foods I'm not allowed to have, I keep watching Mad Men, where the pregnant women ate shrimp and drank alcohol and I remember that for thousands of years these silly rules weren't in effect. Are we just being overly cautious? Am I also suffering more than others because I research everything I'm even remotely curious about? In my searching I found pregnancy discussion boards where women were like "Absolutely, have beef jerky, it's great" and "I can't see a reason why not to." But I can't either, and yet I looked it up and now I'm nervous.

Days Pregnant: 103
Days to go: 177

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Stuff Mom listened to while you were in the womb

I had a fun idea this morning!

I am going to keep an itunes playlist throughout my pregnancy of music that I really like. Around the time of birth I'll make a CD or three of "Stuff Mom listened to while you were in the womb". I come from a very auditory family and this sounds exactly like something that my family would do. I also envision giving this CD to my kid around the 12-15th birthday and having them listen to it and look at me like I've grown a second head! I'm excited.

In other news, I'm past 100 days pregnant now, that's pretty rad.

Days Pregnant: 102
Days to go: 178

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Morning sickness continues

I thought I had this eating thing all figured out. I thought the magic trick was that I needed to eat fresh foods in order to feel like crap after eating lunch. I thought that by adding a salad or fruit I was doing ok.

Yesterday I ate leftover pizza for lunch and felt terrible shortly after. I went out and bought some fresh fruit and ate that and felt much better.

Today I ate one piece of pizza and a big salad with fresh mixed greens and strawberries. I still feel like crud now. I apparently do not have this all figured out. Bummer.

Days Pregnant: 98
Days to go: 182

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Ok, tell anyone you want.

Ok. I did it. I told live journal and facebook.

Eep, I suppose it's official now. You have my permission to tell anyone you want.

Food Thoughts

I went to Vegas over the weekend for a Bachelorette party. Instead of posting about that, I'm going to instead muse on something that was brought up to me while I was with the 9 other girls.

It seems that the consensus among my childless female friends is that the mother of an unborn child adopts the preferences, aversions and allergies of her unborn child while it is inside of her. For example, my friend Heather's mother became allergic to birds while she was pregnant. The allergy went away when Heather was born, but Heather has this allergy. Likewise, another girls mother started to crave all kinds of strange foods like pickled herring. When her daughter was born, the kid did indeed like really flavorful odd foods. This mother, however, kept the taste for these foods.

So my very generic conclusion from this (and a few things I'm not writing about) is that if I'm developing new tastes and desires while pregnant, my kid will have those same tastes. I will also likely keep the new tastes after the kid is born. And things I don't like now my kid will not have any sort of taste for, but I will probably like again after my kid is born.

So, back to the here and now. My kid loves fresh fruits and vegetables. Like, to the point that I was feeling terrible after lunch today (pizza), so I ran to the store and bought some fresh fruit and half way into eating it I feel like 10x better! I've learned to like avocado and pickles. The only food I can tell that my kid won't like at all is garlic. Fresh bread will also be high on my kids list of good food, but processed carbs (like goldfish or tortilla chips) aren't going to be favorites. This kid is also not going to be terribly interested in sugary foods of any sort, besides fruit. Fortunately for me, meat seems to be a perfectly acceptable food, if not a favorite. Meat has never made me feel bad. But this kid won't be saying "Meat, mmm" as it's first word.

All in all, this kid will be good for my eating habits both in utero and when I'm trying to shop for my family.

Days Pregnant: 97
Days to go: 183

Saturday, April 10, 2010

I told work

I am writing this from my iPhone, so please excuse any spelling or grammar mistakes.

I told my official boss yesterday. It went really well! He congratulated me and told me to make sure I am taking care of myself. He is ok with my 10 week leave plan and even good with letting me work part time when I get back! Then he proceeded to tell me about his grand kids :)

So yay!

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Something a little gross

This is going to be a gross entry, at least moderately. If you aren't interested in gross, stop reading now.


Ok, still reading? I'm mostly over that nausea phase of my pregnancy, except for one thing. The entire time I've been pregnant the single most nausea inducing thing in my life has been brushing my teeth. If I even think about getting my tooth brush near my back molars I start to gag. This has resulted in me throwing up several times while brushing my teeth, including this morning. I'm typically throwing up water, so it's actually less gross than it sounds, but it's so frustrating. I've gotten really good at oral hygiene in the last 5 years or so, but right now it's so difficult. I can't even floss really because sticking anything near my back teeth has that gag inducing ability. Talk about frustrating.

Days Pregnant: 92
Days to go: 188