Updates & NAMES!!!! :D

Nothing really important to say right now...It's been a very stressful couple of weeks, but things are progressing quite swimmingly. (haha...get it? sprog..swimming...goo)

Last check-up was 2 wks ago, Mom went with me & we got to hear the heartbeat (158-160bpm) which was quite comforting given the stress and a small scare (brown spotting = nothing to worry about - for those who might need to know). 

I keep having the oddest most vivid dreams, though.  I wake up and wonder what day it is, if the things I just dreamed really happened...take for instance last night's show: My friend Ang & I were both pregnant, only our babies randomly dissolved - and they were on the same ultrasound as just little heads...the bodies were gone...so then there was this obsessive need to get a hold of my dentist right now! to find out why they dissolved and how to replace the dissolved baby...although Ang was relieved hers had dissolved in my dream. Very strange. Can I have my normal vampire/zombie/recurring-tornado dreams back, kplsthnx. 

So...I'm 15 weeks now (WOOHOO!!!!) and SUPER excited!! I have the appointment/meeting with the midwives at the Northern Virginia Birth Center in Chantilly this week!! I'm finding it amusing that I set up this appointment to figure out whether I wanted to switch to them or stick with my OB, and by the time I get to that appointment, I'll have already made up my mind. I've done a bit of obsessive research into pros/cons for both places, including testimonials on both the positive & negative side, and pretty much those all helped make it obvious that the Birth Center is for me....definitely NOT the Birthing Inn @iNoVa. Having come to that conclusion, I no longer feel afraid to delivery little sprog; but excited and at peace and happy!! :D Bring it on!!! I say. 

Ok, so note to self - in prep, need to actively start going to yoga on Thursday nights & Bri (sis-in-law) told me that my niece's ballet school does an intermediate adult ballet class. I'm totally in. :D No pointe for me, though. I have a feeling my floppy ankles would lead to falling which would not be so great for sprog...although I have perfected grace-in-falling.

2nd note - evening-sickness has switched over to morning-sickness for 2nd trimester. Please, Please, PLEASE don't let this be a full 2nd-trimester thing....I'm hoping it's just stress....and maybe my body's way of saying "we want more fruits and veggies!!" I can't stomach the thought of ANY foods before about 3pm for the past 3 days. :(  Today, I went to Wegg's and picked up a baguette, some brie (thank GOD brie is pasteurized!), grapes, tomato, edamame-hummus, carrots, veggie gyoza, and shrimp summer rolls.  This sprog must be a veggiesaurus. The thought of bacon/eggs/heavy meats is enough to make me yack lately - even though I nom'd down a piece of bacon this morning...and that steak Tim made me last week was absolutely to die for...and the burger Dad made last night was also amazing.  But then, I get 1/2 way through my meals and I can't stomach another bite and it needs to be out from in front of me NOW. Makes meal-planning even harder than before. So, I've decided I'll be veggiesaurus for a while until sprog decides it wants something else. 

Frozen grapes = the best sweet treat in the WORLD! :-9 yum!

OH YES!!!!! Major MAJOR update!! 

*****WE HAVE NAMES!!!*****

Girl: Áine Lynn

Boy: Chase Allan

WOOHOO!!!!

Now we just have 5 more weeks before we figure out which one little sprog is. :-) 

♪♫ If I Only Had a Brain ♫♪

Oh brain, how I miss thee...
Your witty charm, your quick response-time...
Your keen focus and ...something....
...something something...


That's about the short of it...
I swear I have NO focus lately - today is the worst yet...and go figure it's the day that nothing mechanical is going right (and not because I mucked it up - it broke on its own & I just have to figure it out).  So the other day, I had forgotten that it's been 2 months since I've had any caffeine...and I subsequently drank 2 glasses of RC-Cola and was bouncing-off-the-walls-WIRED for a good 3 hrs until I got some awesomely heavy yummy pasta in me....which leads me to my 3 topics of today: Cravings-Gone-Wrong; pADHD; and ...what was that other thing??....right! More weird changes. 


Preliminary happy update!! - went to the Doc's on Thursday!! :D  I'm officially 8wks and 2 days (as of today) - my uterus is the size of a grapefruit, approximately; and my bloodwork all came back today checking out good - aside from a pesky uti and needing Vitamin D....antibiotics and vitamins for me woohoo! :D  It does wonders for the mood to find out you're ok tho.  It's like getting a report card that's AWESOME when you're 7 yrs old.  I also got quite a few new tops I can wear throughout and after baby - awesome pretty flowy hippie tops! :D  AND a baby bag.  I had to get it - it was the only one and it was staring at me from the top shelf!! :D


brain...train of thought...where'd I leave that thing?....
...right: CRAVINGS- GONE-WRONG!!
Egg-salad sandwich sounded so good.  ESS with BACON sounded even better!! (and lettuce, tomato & mustard) I ate about 1/2 of it and my "OOO! YUM!!" quickly turned to: "blaaaaaah, get it away from me!"  So sad. 
This brings up an interesting facet to the whole "cravings" part of pregnancy, though.  It's not a simple matter of black/white, want/disgust.  There's definitely an area of "MUST HAVE NOW" which instantly switches into "OMG, I'm gonna yack!"  Discoveries in error thus far:
     - Egg-salad-sandwich with bacon, lettuce, and tomato
     - Steak and Cheese w/ added mushrooms and other slimy gooey gross things which would normally be amazing!
     - Velveeta Shells & Cheese & Turkey (amazing until the texture gets to you)
Texture seems to be a huge factor in this whole pregnancy thing.  Stuff I would normally love has turned out to be disastrous. Cravings are on a daily/hourly/minute-basis...aside from fruit and veggies....I seem to always be able to handle those. I swear I'm gonna become a veggie-saurus again just by way of what I physically can/can't eat right now....oh yeah, other typcially-safe-food: Easy Cheese & Crackers. :)


next topic was....
pADHD! (Pregnant Attention Deficit Disorder)
Did I mention the caffeine episode 2 days ago? Yep...there it is...right in the first paragraph...So I'm at work, things are blowing up around me, I'm multitasking like usual - or what seems like usual - until I realize that it's almost been 10 hours of work and I haven't documented anything I've done today.  CRAP! What did I do today? There was that thing....and that other thing....
I do so miss my brain.  Does this get better in the 2nd trimester like the morning-noon-night-sickness? I'm somehow doubtful.
...we'll just skip this section for now - I can't focus on it much...it's almost time to go home...


More Weird Changes:
So today - for about 4 hours, then a break after I ate a lot, then again now for 2-3 hours, I feel like my skin is crawling.  It's the most irritable, horrible, insatiable sensation I've ever felt and IT HAS TO GO AWAY NOW!!! Omg...I'm gonna strangle something....or punch something...It's making me more hyper and unfocused...and did I mention irritable? I think I need to wrap myself in plastic wrap with some lotion or something....I googled it: plenty of people saying that we (pregnant women experiencing this) must be crazy or have something wrong and should contact the doctor immediately! (thank you yahoo answers) because they never experienced it so it has to be weird and crazy.....but then there's that comforting handful of equal-crazies-like-me so I don't feel so bad.  I am going to chalk it up to hormones....and drink water...and go home and get hubz to rub lotion all over me.  He needs to do more of that anyways. ;-)


This concludes today's update!! :D

I miss food....(and other changes)

Well....I'm officially 7wks2days pregnant...I was feeling nauseous before and it's only getting more fun, let me tell ya.  There's common known changes pregnant women are expected to go through: weight gain, morning sickness, mood swings, cravings...Those are all simply words on a page until you get to fully experience their deep, intimate meanings.


What they don't tell ya:
Morning sickness: doesn't necessarily reside only in the mornings. In fact, mine appears to be all day long, after every meal, and gets worse into the evening.  In the movies, pregnant lady gets sick in the morning, yacks once, and then goes about her business like nothing happened.  Right now, I want to string up whomever dubbed it "morning"-sickness.  


Cravings: don't simply stop at ice cream & pickles.  They're intricately wound around what the stomach can handle at the moment without the sight/smell making the crave-ee want to yack, yet again.  That spinach dip and crackers sounded and tasted completely awesome...until I realized after that when making it, my taste buds were in pregnant-mode and added WAY too much garlic...which now lingers in my mouth and stomach like the Pit of Eternal Stench.  Thank God for the awesome admin who has a handy stock of gum at her desk.  One thing that doesn't ever make me feel ill that I crave ALL the time: fruit & ice-water! :-9 yum!


Mood Swings: Crying at silly AT&T commercials, happy one minute and overly-cranky the next....that's to be expected. Crying/upset because you got sick and had to push someone away to do so; Balling because of a happy commercial on tv; Or falling apart because your pregnant-brain* couldn't make simple connections it normally would without all the hormone overload, in turn, making you feel like a complete idiot; Crying because you're crying....that's the reality of it. 


* Pregnant-Brain: Seriously??? I'm smart...I *love* my smart-brain.  I've worked YEARS to get my brain to where it is. I've done plenty to break it down as well, but then rebuilt it. It's an awesome little organ. WHY didn't anyone mention that you go instantly dumb when a little thing the size of a blueberry starts growing inside of you?  I mean, I know I'm blonde - I'm used to occasionally being overcome by moments of ditsy...but ongoing ditsy things that just word-vomit out of my mouth uncontrollably and leave me (and everyone else) shaking their heads....I'm about to just post a sign on my forehead that says, "Please disregard anything that comes out of my mouth for the next 7 months."  I miss my brain. 


Pool of Never-ending Mucus: I thought I had allergy problems before. I was quite familiar with random colds/sinus infections.  2 months of constantly draining sinuses with no relief = more than just a tad annoying and only adds to the lovely morning-shower-sickness.  When trying to hold down food isn't enough, getting through a morning shower without the daily need to wrestle the shower curtain in time to get the toilet seat up only adds more fun to the day.  At least my abs are getting a good workout. I was educated by my friend who recently had a baby that the body builds up more mucus during pregnancy - further research explains:
     "Higher amounts of estrogen during pregnancy can contribute to swelling in the mucous membranes lining the nose and even cause you to make more mucus. What's more, the amount of blood in your body increases during pregnancy, which may cause swelling in the tiny blood vessels in the lining of your nose and congestion in the surrounding tissue. "


Sleepy-Time: Every day at precisely 5pm-about 8pm, I get this wave of overwhelming exhaustion...sleepy-time.  It'd be great if I could take a nap every day, but my work schedule is from 1pm-11pm.  There's got to be something dietary to fix this.  I typically forget to eat much before about 4pm.  At that point, after I eat and deal with the nauseous post-food-blech, I seem to cycle into this sleepy-time thing.  I think I need to try and wake up with crackers or something...and make sure to eat on my way to work.  On the positive side, when I get home and relax for about an hour or so, I'm completely ready to go to bed and I typically pass right out and sleep through the night (give or take a trip to the bathroom to pee once or twice).  Hooray for no longer needing sleep-aids. :D




In short, I miss food - I miss my brain.  I need more than 1 yoga session a week to combat this attack on my little happy bubble, me thinks.  Or possibly a strawberry milk-shake....and maybe some pickles w/ easy cheese on them....obviously not together - that'd just be gross. 


*Note to self: Get some of THESE!!!  





And thanks to my awesome friend Terry, get THIS book:

This Baby Wants MEXICAN!

We are all well aware that pregnant women are known for their cravings.  There's plenty of information on what these cravings could mean physically and nutritionally (one article's findings posted here), but it's also fun to research and find out what specific cravings could mean in relation to the sprogling* growing inside....


For instance, I can't get enough Mexican food!! OMG. I'm normally a relatively good health-nut.  But right now, all my brain says is "SCREW the healthy, GIVE ME NACHOS!"...and tacos...and taco salad...and pupusas...but mainly NACHOS!!! I can't get enough of em. Let's see what google has to say about that...just that there's a lot of other women out there who crave the same.  


Ok, so maybe there isn't a wealth of food-craving-divination out there...but it is amusing to see the old-wive's-tales out there such as cravings = gender of the sprogling. (Here is a good article on pregnancy gender myths.)  According to myth, I'm gonna have a hairy girl.  Of course, with one myth comes countering myths.  I'm gonna go with my dreams and get back to those nacho cravings...


My food quote of the day: "I have salad and cheesecake! It's the perfectly balanced meal!" :D


*Sprogling: the result of sprogging...having sex with the intention of creating babies.