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

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Thoughts on Lunches

I am reading other blogs too. I know most of you reading my blog have never read a blog before. There is one in particular I'm reading, http://fedupwithschoollunch.blogspot.com/ that is written by a teacher who has decided to eat her school lunch every day for all of 2010. It's an interesting and very approachable look at what we're feeling our elementary school children for lunch. There are guest bloggers in this blog (I may do this eventually, with my husband). Today there was a guest blogger writting about the awful things they feed to her toddler in pre-school. I'm nodding along at how horrible it is to feed them ice cream sandwiches and hamburgers... only to finally stop and look at the snack I'm eating while reading this. Mom, don't yell at me. Flavor Blasted Slammin' Sour Cream & Onion Goldfish Crackers. Yes, this is one of those foods that yesterday made me feel awful through the afternoon. And yet, here I sit eating them.

To be fair, I'm still pretty exhausted and I don't get to the store very often. But my lunch is ok. I have a red pepper, a tomato and 3 hard boiled eggs. Not exactly balanced, but it's fresh anyway. But I can't always claim that I even eat that well. Somehow, in the next 6 months I need to get my life together enough to manage the normal parts of a house and learn how to feed a child. The main solution to the school lunch problem is that parents make their children lunch. I did not grow up with a model for that. I have no idea how one manages to prepare food for someone else every day and still do all the other things that need doing in life. I ate school lunch for 12 years. And yes, I was one of those kids that ate cheese fries and a cookie through most of middle school (sorry mom). How do I pick up these good habits to pass on to my kids when I don't even have them right now for myself.

When I have leftovers, I usually eat those for lunch. That's one good way to go. My husband eats out roughly 18-19 weekdays a month (assuming a month has 20 weekdays). I don't want to spend the time, money or energy on that. So I scrounge my house and take random food some of the time. I also have a stock of soup and other easy to microwave foods. And sometimes I do buy things like hot pockets from the vending machine at work.

Right now, I'm a little overwhelmed.

Days Pregnant: 91
Days to go: 189

Thoughts On Cravings

Ok, so I have read a bunch of stuff saying that cravings aren't real, scientifically anyway. Food aversions, sure, but that's just a matter of preference.

As of last night, I'm convinced that yet another pregnancy myth is true. It's not that I'm craving food exactly, it's more that the majority of food makes me feel sick and only certain things don't give me a headache or nausea. Last night, it was fresh vegetables. That's not a bad thing to crave, all things considered. And my very nice husband was willing to pick up dinner from a local chain we have here that uses delicious fresh things in salads and makes nice sandwiches not from lunch meat. After an afternoon of feeling off from eating some cereal I got a nice salad and chicken sandwich for dinner and I felt SO much better.

What other myths are left? Is there anything else that is going to surprise me by being true? This whole pregnancy thing is so odd.

Days Pregnant: 91
Days to go: 189

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

It still doesn't feel real

Woo! 90 Days Pregnant!

Anyway, I'm still sort of in shock from yesterday. I know it's all good, but I'm having such a hard time believing any of this is real. I do a very good job keeping everything in my head, but I'm still constantly analyzing every cramp and every spot of blood (did you know that was normal? the universe is cruel). I am being responsible and preparing for the future and stuff, but I'm still finding it hard to get really excited.

Clothes shopping helps. I got some VERY cute dresses and a new cute pair of pants on Friday in addition to some cute but not quite as exciting tops.

I don't know when this pregnancy is going to seem real. I don't know when I'm going to be excited to tell people and not just cautious.

Days Pregnant: 90
Days to go: 190

Monday, April 5, 2010

NT Scan Update

Ok, one acronym. NT stands for Nuchal Translucency and that's a mouthful.

I had my NT scan this morning. Basically it was an ultrasound performed at 12 weeks where they look at the folds in the fetus's neck and combine it with a blood draw that I also had done today to determine the probability of a couple of different things being wrong with the baby.

I will get those results later, but today what I know is that my little pumpkin is still growing, is now 5.6 cm long, has a heartbeat has two arms and two legs, has a face and is basically plugging along pretty perfectly!

Now, I just have to figure out how to tell work.

Days Pregnant: 89
Days to go: 191