Well, now that developments are quite a bit more frequent, I'll be posting more often (and hopefully less long-winded as the previous post). Current update: last Wednesday, we went to the specialist for the echocardiogram and they confirmed previous guesses: HRHS with Tricuspid Atresia. This basically means that the lower right ventricle is not formed and they believe she is missing her pulmonary artery.
The whole thing sounds scary at first, but what they can do now a days is pretty amazing when it comes to the heart. Also as a positive, the left side of her heart (which is the main part of the heart that is supposed to pump for a lifetime of work) looks good and strong. Ana will have to undergo 3 surgeries in her first 2-3 years of life, but after that should be relatively normal and live a happy life. No contact sports for her, but she can still be active and have kids according to the doctor. Here's another good thing about the internet: I've found plenty of stories where kids have grown up after these procedures and lived/felt normal and even recently had healthy babies of their own. Those stories give me hope and peace for the future. :)
Another thing that has given me inner peace as well as strength is the Hypnobabies class that Tim & I started this past week. One week and I feel completely changed and empowered! I knew this was the right class for us...I had no idea how thoroughly it would work and how quickly, though. My instructor, Susan, is absolutely awesome! She even shared with us another instructor's story to help give us added strength and peace. Lindsay had a perfectly happy and peaceful home-birth, in water. Her daughter came out and Lindsay was even surprised she'd come out already. 10 days later, they found out that little June had a heart defect (similar, yet different) and needed to go in for treatment. She was able to go home to mom & dad 10 days later and is on medications and awaiting her surgery in a few months, but is otherwise able to interact with siblings and family (and even do baby yoga class with mom). It's a very inspiring story...on top of the other stories I've found.
On top of all the inspiration, my Hypnobabies course has me relatively completely relaxed and in control of my emotions & future interactions with doctors/hospital staff/people who want to undermine my determination for still a peaceful, happy birth. I came up with a birth plan last night (& questions for the staff), ran it by Tim who approved, and sent it to Caroline (the social worker coordinating my birth) along with Lindsay's story from the news to use as fodder against the hospitals who seem bound and determined to strap me to a bed and "deliver" this baby from me. Lesson 1: I don't need to "be delivered", thank you very much! I will birth my little precious baby when she decides it's time and how I see fit. As long as I have my wits about me, that's how it's gonna be. /nods/
It's kinda funny...at first, I wondered, "what possible lesson or positive experience could this development bring?" But at this point, I know it'll bring Tim, Ana, and I closer together as a tight little family; I know it's making me stronger and more stable as a mom - I'm learning very quickly how to stick up for what I say will and will not happen; and Tim and I are both learning deeper communication and relaxation skills which are useful even beyond this adventure. I'm positive that Ana will be just fine. I've seen images of her happy and giggling as a baby, smiling and beautiful as a child, dancing and spinning in the sunshine, and I've seen her older and refined - glowing and beautiful. I might be delusional to some (crazy hippie girl!), but I honestly believe these things will be true. It's just gonna be a little different of a road to get there than we expected. :-)
As an end-note, I have to say how amazing and awesome Tim is as a father, partner, husband, friend, and supporter. He's right there beside me in everything - he's researching on starting a fund for little Ana, setting up a fundraiser event to help support her treatments in the future, and supporting me by buffering with our friends/family and notification/updates to what's happening. I love him more completely every day and I wouldn't want anyone else by my side in this adventure. I'm so excited for our future with our happy little family!
On a second-happy-end-note: I can feel little Ana kicking externally and moving around like my belly is an amazing little jungle gym all this week! Tim also got to feel her little head at our midwife appointment on Friday...and got to draw my blood for glucose testing because the nurse couldn't get it with the tiny needles. That's bonding right there! lol!
<3!
Adventure-Progress
Monday, June 18, 2012
Monday, June 11, 2012
Descisions & Listening To Your Inner Baby...
Well, so the pool thing was fun - but it was a LOT colder than I expected, so it didn't last long. But! It was a fun little spontaneous bonding adventure for hubby & I...and then we snuggled really well during sleep and I'm pretty sure I managed a full night without punching him. :D I'm sure he's pretty happy about that as well.
Little Ana is SUPER active today. I'm enjoying my salads, fruits, veggies and she's having a little party in there. I need to keep reminding myself to stick to healthy this week; glucose testing on Friday! I'm hoping I pass the 1-hour and don't have to do the dreaded 3-hour. I generally eat rather healthy and don't much care for sweets or breads (the breads are a total pregnant anti-craving for me). I drink tons of water every day and limit my tea to 1 glass of green-jasmine-sweet-tea when I get to work. I'm thinking I'll be ok hopefully. My BP has been completely awesome the whole time (and has actually gotten better as I progress) and I still haven't gained more than 2lbs...contrary to how my belly looks. I swear little Ana is taking everything I eat, lol.
So my monthly midwife appointment is this Friday - the last meeting wasn't too awesome. It followed my 20wk sono which ended with the flighty dr saying she couldn't see all of the heart well enough to get a picture of all 4 chambers at once. She assured my mom and I that it was probably okay, but they were going to send me to Children's to get another look "just to be sure". The midwife called me quite concerned and said that the dr put on the report that something was probably wrong and that I needed a fetal-echo to get the full heart picture...and even labeled it as Hypoplastic Right Heart Syndrome. All based on an uncertainty. I was pissed. But, getting pissed doesn't change anything...and neither does worrying. So, I decided to not allow it to affect me (mostly). I'm working on my mind-over-matter bit and picturing Ana's little healthy heart beating away all happy and bouncy like. I've sent many prayers up to the big dude in the sky. We'll see what happens at the testing on Wed.
On top of that whole possibility-facing-mess, the midwife (who is decidedly NOT the one I want to use...which I realize I may not have a choice) launches into a story about how her grandson had HLHS and had the operations after being born and died. *BAM!* The End. No uplifting words, no encouragement...just "Oh this happened to me and he died." We didn't respond how she wanted us to...not quite sure how she expected us to react, but yeah...WHO DOES THAT???
So we skip over that part and move to the next topic: how I'm doing, what I'm eating, what vitamins I'm taking, and birthing classes. When I was in there 2x previously, both midwives were in the middle of labour-delivery and I met with a student-midwife who told me simply to look into birthing classes. She didn't give me specifics, so I went on my own search for different styles and classes. I came across Hypnobabies - which uses self-hypnosis as a relaxation technique. I'm used to using meditation and other hippie-friendly things (diet change, sleep, natural remedies, etc) and this seems like a complete fit for how I envision my birth going: peaceful, happy, and actually exciting!
Go back to most recent MW visit with Ms. Negative: "We use the Bradley method, you should do that class first and use hypnobabies next time." Complete disregard for my reasoning on why I thought it was a good fit for me. On the dietary things we went over, "juice is full of sugar, you should get your vitamin C from supplements." Again, completely ignoring me when I said that I use mostly organics and natural foods (less sugars/no added-sugar) and that I have 1 glass of juice a day...the rest is all real happy fruits. I understand that I can take vitamin supplements and that I need to make sure I'm getting the right amounts, but I also believe that if you eat healthy, the need for supplements is negated. I've never eaten so healthy in my life! My cravings are all fruits/veggies lately. I eat a salad a day at least. Hubby and I both left that appointment feeling less than happy with her...but fortunately, we both have an awesome need to support each other and we collectively decided to disregard her attitude as a single instance for right now and reassess after the heart exam this Wed.
So, now I'm in preparation mode for the test on Wed and the MW appointment on Friday...I haven't started taking the extra vitamin C (btw, my multi-vitamin I am taking has 100% in it already), or the pro-biotic (which I do want to start taking - but figure if I start taking it that day, I can say "yes, I'm taking it"), and I haven't signed up for any birthing classes as of yet. The whole experience last month with her made me sink back into grrrr-panic-NO! mode...which I know isn't productive or good for the baby. I know I need to take classes and be prepared or natural will just not be any fun...so I did more research today. Thank God for the interwebs!
When I started my research today, I was of the mindset of: "well, she does have years of experience and I should follow what she says." I started looking into The Bradley Method and found no real concrete description of what it consisted of really...until I found the instructor pages which listed the curriculum. 12 weeks of classes (vs. 6 wks with the Hypnobabies), and no emphasis on techniques/relaxation practices other than weekly points of focus. Part of the whole Hypnobabies concept that strikes me as "right" is that you're given CDs to listen to where you have to devote 45 min daily to practicing with and relaxing. To me, this isn't simply a once-needed class but something that can be (should be) adapted to every-day life to make it more tranquil overall.
I still wasn't quite convinced in switching back to my original class tho - the one instructor I had contacted took 3 weeks to respond to me and didn't pay attention to the information I was asking for - it took me 3x to get the cost of the course from her. I get easily turned off by people who don't pay attention after multiple attempts. So, I looked further to see if there were any other instructors, and I found another Hypnobabies instructor local to me who had MUCH more information on her site than the one I first contacted. I emailed Susan and she responded relatively immediately on her way back from NY even!! I've always known I'm an intuition kind of gal - and I believe in signs...a quick-response time vs. 3 wks is a pretty good sign of dependability to me - and a multitude of information available is even more reassuring.
I felt good about finding the right instructor, but how to comfortably counter the midwife on my decision was a different matter. More interweb-research!! I found this really awesome board from my google of Bradley Method vs. Hypnobabies and have MUCH thanks to the poster "Sudonk" who, I think, compared the methods quite concisely and informatively. In trying to decide which method to go with, I was worried that Hypnobabies might lack some of the information from Bradley Method...but after reading the posts in that entry (and others following), I feel like it would be an even better choice especially given that Hypnobabies was created by a previous-Bradley-instructor. The main difference being that TBM treats birthing as a painful experience that moms need to deal with and learn how to manage; whereas HB treats it as a peaceful experience that you can attain through knowing your body and how to guide the brain/body into a positive natural flow of birth.
What I've learned today: trust my instincts, do the research to back it up, go back to midwives prepared to say "No, this is my birth, I wanna try this way." and see what they say. :) I told Tim about my research and he's with me 100% of the way - it's such an awesome thing to have such a solid, positive, cheerful, and equally-obstinate husband and partner. I loves him to PIECES!!!! <3! I'm focusing on lesson 1 of the Hypnobabies ideals: picture the happy birth and how it should be - and applying it to my 2 appointments this week. I'm picturing a happy healthy heart in my happy little baby, and I'm picturing a happy MW visit with my favoured midwife where everything goes happy and how I want it to be. :D
Little Ana is SUPER active today. I'm enjoying my salads, fruits, veggies and she's having a little party in there. I need to keep reminding myself to stick to healthy this week; glucose testing on Friday! I'm hoping I pass the 1-hour and don't have to do the dreaded 3-hour. I generally eat rather healthy and don't much care for sweets or breads (the breads are a total pregnant anti-craving for me). I drink tons of water every day and limit my tea to 1 glass of green-jasmine-sweet-tea when I get to work. I'm thinking I'll be ok hopefully. My BP has been completely awesome the whole time (and has actually gotten better as I progress) and I still haven't gained more than 2lbs...contrary to how my belly looks. I swear little Ana is taking everything I eat, lol.
So my monthly midwife appointment is this Friday - the last meeting wasn't too awesome. It followed my 20wk sono which ended with the flighty dr saying she couldn't see all of the heart well enough to get a picture of all 4 chambers at once. She assured my mom and I that it was probably okay, but they were going to send me to Children's to get another look "just to be sure". The midwife called me quite concerned and said that the dr put on the report that something was probably wrong and that I needed a fetal-echo to get the full heart picture...and even labeled it as Hypoplastic Right Heart Syndrome. All based on an uncertainty. I was pissed. But, getting pissed doesn't change anything...and neither does worrying. So, I decided to not allow it to affect me (mostly). I'm working on my mind-over-matter bit and picturing Ana's little healthy heart beating away all happy and bouncy like. I've sent many prayers up to the big dude in the sky. We'll see what happens at the testing on Wed.
On top of that whole possibility-facing-mess, the midwife (who is decidedly NOT the one I want to use...which I realize I may not have a choice) launches into a story about how her grandson had HLHS and had the operations after being born and died. *BAM!* The End. No uplifting words, no encouragement...just "Oh this happened to me and he died." We didn't respond how she wanted us to...not quite sure how she expected us to react, but yeah...WHO DOES THAT???
So we skip over that part and move to the next topic: how I'm doing, what I'm eating, what vitamins I'm taking, and birthing classes. When I was in there 2x previously, both midwives were in the middle of labour-delivery and I met with a student-midwife who told me simply to look into birthing classes. She didn't give me specifics, so I went on my own search for different styles and classes. I came across Hypnobabies - which uses self-hypnosis as a relaxation technique. I'm used to using meditation and other hippie-friendly things (diet change, sleep, natural remedies, etc) and this seems like a complete fit for how I envision my birth going: peaceful, happy, and actually exciting!
Go back to most recent MW visit with Ms. Negative: "We use the Bradley method, you should do that class first and use hypnobabies next time." Complete disregard for my reasoning on why I thought it was a good fit for me. On the dietary things we went over, "juice is full of sugar, you should get your vitamin C from supplements." Again, completely ignoring me when I said that I use mostly organics and natural foods (less sugars/no added-sugar) and that I have 1 glass of juice a day...the rest is all real happy fruits. I understand that I can take vitamin supplements and that I need to make sure I'm getting the right amounts, but I also believe that if you eat healthy, the need for supplements is negated. I've never eaten so healthy in my life! My cravings are all fruits/veggies lately. I eat a salad a day at least. Hubby and I both left that appointment feeling less than happy with her...but fortunately, we both have an awesome need to support each other and we collectively decided to disregard her attitude as a single instance for right now and reassess after the heart exam this Wed.
So, now I'm in preparation mode for the test on Wed and the MW appointment on Friday...I haven't started taking the extra vitamin C (btw, my multi-vitamin I am taking has 100% in it already), or the pro-biotic (which I do want to start taking - but figure if I start taking it that day, I can say "yes, I'm taking it"), and I haven't signed up for any birthing classes as of yet. The whole experience last month with her made me sink back into grrrr-panic-NO! mode...which I know isn't productive or good for the baby. I know I need to take classes and be prepared or natural will just not be any fun...so I did more research today. Thank God for the interwebs!
When I started my research today, I was of the mindset of: "well, she does have years of experience and I should follow what she says." I started looking into The Bradley Method and found no real concrete description of what it consisted of really...until I found the instructor pages which listed the curriculum. 12 weeks of classes (vs. 6 wks with the Hypnobabies), and no emphasis on techniques/relaxation practices other than weekly points of focus. Part of the whole Hypnobabies concept that strikes me as "right" is that you're given CDs to listen to where you have to devote 45 min daily to practicing with and relaxing. To me, this isn't simply a once-needed class but something that can be (should be) adapted to every-day life to make it more tranquil overall.
I still wasn't quite convinced in switching back to my original class tho - the one instructor I had contacted took 3 weeks to respond to me and didn't pay attention to the information I was asking for - it took me 3x to get the cost of the course from her. I get easily turned off by people who don't pay attention after multiple attempts. So, I looked further to see if there were any other instructors, and I found another Hypnobabies instructor local to me who had MUCH more information on her site than the one I first contacted. I emailed Susan and she responded relatively immediately on her way back from NY even!! I've always known I'm an intuition kind of gal - and I believe in signs...a quick-response time vs. 3 wks is a pretty good sign of dependability to me - and a multitude of information available is even more reassuring.
I felt good about finding the right instructor, but how to comfortably counter the midwife on my decision was a different matter. More interweb-research!! I found this really awesome board from my google of Bradley Method vs. Hypnobabies and have MUCH thanks to the poster "Sudonk" who, I think, compared the methods quite concisely and informatively. In trying to decide which method to go with, I was worried that Hypnobabies might lack some of the information from Bradley Method...but after reading the posts in that entry (and others following), I feel like it would be an even better choice especially given that Hypnobabies was created by a previous-Bradley-instructor. The main difference being that TBM treats birthing as a painful experience that moms need to deal with and learn how to manage; whereas HB treats it as a peaceful experience that you can attain through knowing your body and how to guide the brain/body into a positive natural flow of birth.
What I've learned today: trust my instincts, do the research to back it up, go back to midwives prepared to say "No, this is my birth, I wanna try this way." and see what they say. :) I told Tim about my research and he's with me 100% of the way - it's such an awesome thing to have such a solid, positive, cheerful, and equally-obstinate husband and partner. I loves him to PIECES!!!! <3! I'm focusing on lesson 1 of the Hypnobabies ideals: picture the happy birth and how it should be - and applying it to my 2 appointments this week. I'm picturing a happy healthy heart in my happy little baby, and I'm picturing a happy MW visit with my favoured midwife where everything goes happy and how I want it to be. :D
Sunday, June 10, 2012
25 weeks!!
Ok, I'm really REALLY bad at this updating thing...once a month...hopefully I'll have more to update now that I'm 1 week away from my third trimester!! :D I'm SUPER excited! So many changes in the past week or so even.
The bump is definitely there...and prohibitive lol. I keep forgetting I can't bend over a sink or climb over the bed and reach something on the other side of the room like I'd normally do. There's definitely a baby there now.
My energy levels are duplicitous: While I have a TON more energy (happy bubbly glowing energy!) since I don't feel like yacking every day as I did through the first 19 weeks, I also have less stamina when it comes to that energy. If I don't sleep good, I wake up tired....juice and healthy fruits and veggies help a lot. I have to work til 11pm and little Izzy (the monster-dog) wakes me up every day at 930am - so lasting until 11pm can get hard. Tonight, I'm making a point to go back home with Tim & lay in the recently-erected kiddie pool tho...I think relaxing before bed might help the quality of sleep. He also mentioned last night that standing in the cool water might help my body temp to cool down before bed. I have the most horrible time right now getting cold enough to sleep. The thermostat says 73, my stuffy head and lungs say 92.
Cravings still aren't all that weird; I've more or less settled into a really good pattern of enjoying a wheat english muffin with PB&Strawberry Jam for breakfast (with side of cantaloupe), some kind of veggie/salad/something for lunch with more fruit for snacks, and whatever I feel like for dinner (usually something basic and healthy...or pizza once in a while...I just can't do the bread so often - it doesn't feel good to my brain which is craving nutrients).
Movement: She's been moving around a LOT more...I felt external kicks on 3 different days...and yesterday I was sitting outside, felt a pressure/pinch in my rib...felt it with my hand, and the pressure was still there when I pulled my hand away...I felt it again and could feel the hard shape of a foot or hand...I'm assuming it was a foot; it felt bigger than a hand. :D COOLEST.THING.EVER!
Wednesday is our little Ana's heart exam. I'm praying everything turns out completely fine and normal. Once that's cleared (as it hopefully will be), I'll be able to be completely excited about baby and the fun and joy of it all. This whole baby thing still doesn't feel completely real yet on some days. I have days where I still just feel blah and bloated and fluffier than normal rather than having some living little thing inside of me. Playing with Tim's grandbaby, Maddie, helped make it much more of a reality. I'm SO EXCITED!!! I can't wait to meet our little Ana Leigh!!! :D
The bump is definitely there...and prohibitive lol. I keep forgetting I can't bend over a sink or climb over the bed and reach something on the other side of the room like I'd normally do. There's definitely a baby there now.
My energy levels are duplicitous: While I have a TON more energy (happy bubbly glowing energy!) since I don't feel like yacking every day as I did through the first 19 weeks, I also have less stamina when it comes to that energy. If I don't sleep good, I wake up tired....juice and healthy fruits and veggies help a lot. I have to work til 11pm and little Izzy (the monster-dog) wakes me up every day at 930am - so lasting until 11pm can get hard. Tonight, I'm making a point to go back home with Tim & lay in the recently-erected kiddie pool tho...I think relaxing before bed might help the quality of sleep. He also mentioned last night that standing in the cool water might help my body temp to cool down before bed. I have the most horrible time right now getting cold enough to sleep. The thermostat says 73, my stuffy head and lungs say 92.
Cravings still aren't all that weird; I've more or less settled into a really good pattern of enjoying a wheat english muffin with PB&Strawberry Jam for breakfast (with side of cantaloupe), some kind of veggie/salad/something for lunch with more fruit for snacks, and whatever I feel like for dinner (usually something basic and healthy...or pizza once in a while...I just can't do the bread so often - it doesn't feel good to my brain which is craving nutrients).
Movement: She's been moving around a LOT more...I felt external kicks on 3 different days...and yesterday I was sitting outside, felt a pressure/pinch in my rib...felt it with my hand, and the pressure was still there when I pulled my hand away...I felt it again and could feel the hard shape of a foot or hand...I'm assuming it was a foot; it felt bigger than a hand. :D COOLEST.THING.EVER!
Wednesday is our little Ana's heart exam. I'm praying everything turns out completely fine and normal. Once that's cleared (as it hopefully will be), I'll be able to be completely excited about baby and the fun and joy of it all. This whole baby thing still doesn't feel completely real yet on some days. I have days where I still just feel blah and bloated and fluffier than normal rather than having some living little thing inside of me. Playing with Tim's grandbaby, Maddie, helped make it much more of a reality. I'm SO EXCITED!!! I can't wait to meet our little Ana Leigh!!! :D
Sunday, May 6, 2012
Sprogette!! :D
It's A GIRL!!!!
We officially have a little girl growing in my belly! :-D We both decided on the name Ana Leigh (pronounced "AH-na LEE"; not Aaaanna) - think "Puff the magic dragon." ;-D This post will likely have many smiley faces and excited gibber-jabber.
I know I've been bad about adding into my blog, but I'm going to chalk up my lack-of-presence to my state of mind for the past month; and my resurgence into the baby-blogdom as the breaking of my tired/sick/anti-social period. I finally broke the morning sickness at 19wks, and have a renewed sense of energy and happiness. I finally feel (mostly) comfortable with this whole being-pregnant thing...minus the prickly heat. OMG, I want to strangle small squirrels when it comes to that. I haven't itched this bad since chicken pox when I was eight....and nothing fixes it other than being naked and bags of ice cubes. I've taken to wearing maxi-dresses and sun dresses regularly. I'm done with jeans & pants! HOORAY! NO PANTS!!
Aside from stress of life-events, having to move this week, and getting through morning-sickness and prickly-heat, things are starting to look very happy and up. I'm pretty sure that's all due to finding out this past Friday that we have a little girl and can stop calling Sprog an "it". It's kinda amazing how it doesn't feel quite real until you can pin a specific detail to it...like girl/boy. Plus, I'm sure sitting there for an hour+ while she bounced around in my stomach for the sono-tech helped make it more realistic. She dances like crazy ALL the time! lol! I love it! My little Bump-App on my phone has a kick counter and I can't even begin to count the kicks, because she's simply in constant movement.
T & I went baby-registry-creating after the sono & although he reeeeeally wanted a boy, it was adorable to see how excited he was with picking out little girl things. I was so tired and beat by the end of it that I just let him pick most of the necessity things. He got into my everything-PURPLE! mood on his own and helped to pick out some really pretty & cute things that are very much influenced by the both of us. :-) Flowers & Butterflies....and BUNNIES!! :-D The rest of the weekend, he's pampered me with yummy foods, relaxation, and we managed to pack a little. (stress) * I'm trying to not let the move thing stress me out too bad - it'll get done one way or another - and we have all week to finish packing...so I'm breathing - Ohhhhhhhhmmmm....
NOW I get to make sure initial baby shower-fun-planning is in place...I was thinking bunnies - but I decided Friday that I really want a luau party. :-D The shower is going to have to be last weekend of July (29th/Sunday) or the following weekend Aug 4th (Saturday) - so outside might be out-of-the-question with the heat....as hot as I've been already without it even being 1 week into May. But I have an amazing friend & planner (plus some amazing deputies to help plan)....so I just have to come up with the theme & the list and let it all happen! :-D So luau baby shower with a hawaiian bunny cake! :-D Sounds perfect to me!
And little Ana Leigh is dancing around in my belly - which means I'm hungry, thirsty, or just need to stretch my legs. Hopefully I will be posting a lot more frequently now that I get to have fun with being preggo! :D
Toodles!!
~The-Mommy~
PS. Check out the updated registries!!! :D
We officially have a little girl growing in my belly! :-D We both decided on the name Ana Leigh (pronounced "AH-na LEE"; not Aaaanna) - think "Puff the magic dragon." ;-D This post will likely have many smiley faces and excited gibber-jabber.
I know I've been bad about adding into my blog, but I'm going to chalk up my lack-of-presence to my state of mind for the past month; and my resurgence into the baby-blogdom as the breaking of my tired/sick/anti-social period. I finally broke the morning sickness at 19wks, and have a renewed sense of energy and happiness. I finally feel (mostly) comfortable with this whole being-pregnant thing...minus the prickly heat. OMG, I want to strangle small squirrels when it comes to that. I haven't itched this bad since chicken pox when I was eight....and nothing fixes it other than being naked and bags of ice cubes. I've taken to wearing maxi-dresses and sun dresses regularly. I'm done with jeans & pants! HOORAY! NO PANTS!!
Aside from stress of life-events, having to move this week, and getting through morning-sickness and prickly-heat, things are starting to look very happy and up. I'm pretty sure that's all due to finding out this past Friday that we have a little girl and can stop calling Sprog an "it". It's kinda amazing how it doesn't feel quite real until you can pin a specific detail to it...like girl/boy. Plus, I'm sure sitting there for an hour+ while she bounced around in my stomach for the sono-tech helped make it more realistic. She dances like crazy ALL the time! lol! I love it! My little Bump-App on my phone has a kick counter and I can't even begin to count the kicks, because she's simply in constant movement.
T & I went baby-registry-creating after the sono & although he reeeeeally wanted a boy, it was adorable to see how excited he was with picking out little girl things. I was so tired and beat by the end of it that I just let him pick most of the necessity things. He got into my everything-PURPLE! mood on his own and helped to pick out some really pretty & cute things that are very much influenced by the both of us. :-) Flowers & Butterflies....and BUNNIES!! :-D The rest of the weekend, he's pampered me with yummy foods, relaxation, and we managed to pack a little. (stress) * I'm trying to not let the move thing stress me out too bad - it'll get done one way or another - and we have all week to finish packing...so I'm breathing - Ohhhhhhhhmmmm....
NOW I get to make sure initial baby shower-fun-planning is in place...I was thinking bunnies - but I decided Friday that I really want a luau party. :-D The shower is going to have to be last weekend of July (29th/Sunday) or the following weekend Aug 4th (Saturday) - so outside might be out-of-the-question with the heat....as hot as I've been already without it even being 1 week into May. But I have an amazing friend & planner (plus some amazing deputies to help plan)....so I just have to come up with the theme & the list and let it all happen! :-D So luau baby shower with a hawaiian bunny cake! :-D Sounds perfect to me!
And little Ana Leigh is dancing around in my belly - which means I'm hungry, thirsty, or just need to stretch my legs. Hopefully I will be posting a lot more frequently now that I get to have fun with being preggo! :D
Toodles!!
~The-Mommy~
PS. Check out the updated registries!!! :D
Sunday, April 1, 2012
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. :-)
Monday, March 12, 2012
It's All in the Delivery...
So, I seem to be having a very difficult internal struggle with my decision of Midwife/Birthing-Center vs. OBGYN/Birthing-Inn/Hospital. For the longest time, I've really reaaaaaally wanted to do water birth - the whole thing, in the little pool. I'm a fish. I love water. I'm most comfortable and relaxed in the water. Aside from that, I've done rather extensive research on the benefits of water birthing vs. on a table flat on your back, legs in the air. I've also done plenty of research that leads me in a no-questions-about-it decision of wanting natural vs. drugs for the delivery - which also leads right back to the awesomeness of water birthing. (Scary factoid: 40% of Northern Va hospital births end up in cesarean section.)
The dilemma here is threefold:
1) This is my first pregnancy and I have no idea what to expect. Everything is going normal as of now, all of my bloodwork and tests are "boring" according to the OBGYN I'm currently seeing. However, I still have 6 months to go...well, 6-7 depending on how long I incubate this little sprog. Anything could happen. I have no past experience to go off of to determine if my body will react normal or weird to this whole pregnancy thing.
2) The OBGYN I'm seeing currently is really awesome; however, they work with the Loudoun Birthing Inn which is off of Loudoun County Hospital - which does not allow full water birth. They allow you to sit in a nice warm bubbly tub for the laboring part, but then you have to get out and lay on the slab to actually birth the child. So you get part of the benefit at least, but the whole idea is that water birthing allows for a less traumatic transition from mommy-belly to real-world, plus less risk of tearing. The facilities are nicer than a hospital, yet still look semi-hospitalish (the same uncomfortable bed and the "sleep-chair" for the spouse looks less-than-comfy), but you are expected to stay over-night - which I kind of like for monitoring the first 24 hours. They also have people to assist with first-24-hr feeding so new-mommy can rest, and they have a super secure facility and nursery. Also, if anything does go wrong, the hospital is right there, and there's a nic-u for baby-emergencies. If an emergency arises, I know minutes mean the difference between safe and not.
3) The Birthing Center/Midwife: There's only one full-on birthing-center in this area - Chantilly. They have 4 rooms with real furnishings: Queen sized bed, couches in the rooms, chairs, your own bathroom, a birthing tub IN the room where you can do the full complete birth and after-birth relaxation in the tub. You're not separated from your baby after birth, you're allowed to have whomever and as many people as you want with you (friends/family - I'm sure there's a limit, but they mention 4-5 people like it's nothing - not that I'd want an audience), you are encouraged to bring your own snacks/drinks and to ingest fluids throughout labor and move around rather than being strapped to an IV and continuous monitoring system (they do incremental monitoring). All of this is supposed to help further the natural process of childbirth. It sounds perfect for me. But I'm still scared....it's 8 min from the hospital, it's my first pregnancy....granted, it's my first pregnancy and a hospital-setting is the farthest thing from relaxing & happy to me...and I should be comfortable and this experience should be magical...but is the risk high enough to warrant forgoing comfort? Oh, and the whole process leads to the mommy not staying overnight - you leave within a few hours of birth (which I'm not too sure about - I like the idea of monitoring for 24 hrs before release).
I would definitely welcome any educated advice from mommies out there on this decision. (Please don't read that as needing advice on natural vs. medicated child birth - I've already had more people than not try to push me and tell me I dont want that...no, no...I'm pretty sure I know what I want and why - I just don't know where.)
The dilemma here is threefold:
1) This is my first pregnancy and I have no idea what to expect. Everything is going normal as of now, all of my bloodwork and tests are "boring" according to the OBGYN I'm currently seeing. However, I still have 6 months to go...well, 6-7 depending on how long I incubate this little sprog. Anything could happen. I have no past experience to go off of to determine if my body will react normal or weird to this whole pregnancy thing.
2) The OBGYN I'm seeing currently is really awesome; however, they work with the Loudoun Birthing Inn which is off of Loudoun County Hospital - which does not allow full water birth. They allow you to sit in a nice warm bubbly tub for the laboring part, but then you have to get out and lay on the slab to actually birth the child. So you get part of the benefit at least, but the whole idea is that water birthing allows for a less traumatic transition from mommy-belly to real-world, plus less risk of tearing. The facilities are nicer than a hospital, yet still look semi-hospitalish (the same uncomfortable bed and the "sleep-chair" for the spouse looks less-than-comfy), but you are expected to stay over-night - which I kind of like for monitoring the first 24 hours. They also have people to assist with first-24-hr feeding so new-mommy can rest, and they have a super secure facility and nursery. Also, if anything does go wrong, the hospital is right there, and there's a nic-u for baby-emergencies. If an emergency arises, I know minutes mean the difference between safe and not.
3) The Birthing Center/Midwife: There's only one full-on birthing-center in this area - Chantilly. They have 4 rooms with real furnishings: Queen sized bed, couches in the rooms, chairs, your own bathroom, a birthing tub IN the room where you can do the full complete birth and after-birth relaxation in the tub. You're not separated from your baby after birth, you're allowed to have whomever and as many people as you want with you (friends/family - I'm sure there's a limit, but they mention 4-5 people like it's nothing - not that I'd want an audience), you are encouraged to bring your own snacks/drinks and to ingest fluids throughout labor and move around rather than being strapped to an IV and continuous monitoring system (they do incremental monitoring). All of this is supposed to help further the natural process of childbirth. It sounds perfect for me. But I'm still scared....it's 8 min from the hospital, it's my first pregnancy....granted, it's my first pregnancy and a hospital-setting is the farthest thing from relaxing & happy to me...and I should be comfortable and this experience should be magical...but is the risk high enough to warrant forgoing comfort? Oh, and the whole process leads to the mommy not staying overnight - you leave within a few hours of birth (which I'm not too sure about - I like the idea of monitoring for 24 hrs before release).
I would definitely welcome any educated advice from mommies out there on this decision. (Please don't read that as needing advice on natural vs. medicated child birth - I've already had more people than not try to push me and tell me I dont want that...no, no...I'm pretty sure I know what I want and why - I just don't know where.)
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Ode to the Granola-Mom....
First off, you need to check out this blog entry from a reformed "perfect mom". It's amazing on its own, but actually inspired me to write as well.
Done reading? Ok...
I know as we get older, we get wiser. And for those who don't get wiser with age, well, there's parenthood. I feel very fortunate that I've had the chance to wait this long to have kids and gain a decade of maturity and self-awareness above the average twenty-something. I get to skip the growing pains from wearing those amazing un-adulterated idealistic goggles of young-parenthood; or at least in part. I'm eternally an optimist, so I know there's still going to be hurdles and adjustments.
When I was younger and wanted kids, I did the same things this other mom did in judging parents I saw out and about. "I'll never let my kids watch TV until they're 3-4 yrs old, and even then, only 3 hours a day! TV prohibits interpersonal growth and development that can't be replaced from one-on-one interaction." While I still believe in this concept, I know there's gray areas. I also know that a parent (or even two) can't be the center of a child's attention for 15 hours straight. I've adapted a certain realism to my philosophies. I like to think this denotes maturity. I'm also perfectly accepting that my philosophies might change further as I gain experience in parenting...I'm adaptable that way. At this point, I'd be happy with 3-4 hours of educational, yet not completely creepy and annoying, kid's shows and the remainder one-on-one interaction. We'll see how that gets adjusted with time. There's so many different mediums to entertain children other than TV that also prove entertaining for the parents though, it really makes TV a non-necessity in my mind.
When it comes to setting a healthy lifestyle with food, many parents lose their ground as their time gets cut short. It's soooo much easier to hit the fast-food, especially after a long day at work - especially if you're like the average household where both parents have to work (or are a single parent). I have two thoughts on this, and as with the others, I'm sure they'll adapt over time; however, I have seen the extreme difference with healthy eating vs junk food in my body, mood, and overall quality of life. I grew up with the not-so-healthy and have adjusted on my own to gain control over that part of my life. It's amazing and empowering. I think these life changes can only become more concrete with having kids rather than loose as I want to create the best environment and start for them possible.
My secondary thought on food relates to "who rules the roost." I read a really interesting article about a month ago on the differences between European and American parents on who rules the relationship. Not-surprisingly, American parents have adopted this form of "keep the child happy and quiet" approach: less rules, less consequences; less parental dictatorship. Sticking strictly to the food portion of this topic (because other topics are too expansive for right now), as I was growing up, we were very much a "you eat what you get" household. We were also a "finish what's on your plate or you don't get dessert" household. I've seen more parents these days who structure their lives and routine around what [Johnny] won't eat. This has to start early enough that the child realizes that they have control over the parent, just my thought. If a kid is never taught that it's ok to be picky and they're expected to eat (or at least try) what they think they don't like, they become a lot more open to possibilities. I do actually have friends with kids who insist on at least trying-once anything new put in front of them and I've seen it work. So naysayers :-p
Without delving into my other philosophies (and hearing the across-the-interwebz sigh of "yeah right" coming from my screen), there's plenty I still feel strongly on and know that it takes experience to understand. Screaming children in stores still drive me crazy, but I know that one day - it'll be me. I still have no idea how I'm gonna handle that one. I'll figure it out along the way. People who leave dirty diapers on restaurant tables astound me - I don't care how comfortable I get with being a parent and changing diapers, I will always know that not everyone is, and it's not anyone else's duty to have to deal with my kid's poop. I dive into this experience whole-heartedly, with open eyes and mind, and I expect to grow and adapt with the experience. I also can't wait to re-read this in a year or two and catalog what's been "adjusted". ;-)
~Cheers~
PS Hooray!! Morning sickness subsides (for the most part). Mexican and chocolate cravings persist. :D
Done reading? Ok...
I know as we get older, we get wiser. And for those who don't get wiser with age, well, there's parenthood. I feel very fortunate that I've had the chance to wait this long to have kids and gain a decade of maturity and self-awareness above the average twenty-something. I get to skip the growing pains from wearing those amazing un-adulterated idealistic goggles of young-parenthood; or at least in part. I'm eternally an optimist, so I know there's still going to be hurdles and adjustments.
When I was younger and wanted kids, I did the same things this other mom did in judging parents I saw out and about. "I'll never let my kids watch TV until they're 3-4 yrs old, and even then, only 3 hours a day! TV prohibits interpersonal growth and development that can't be replaced from one-on-one interaction." While I still believe in this concept, I know there's gray areas. I also know that a parent (or even two) can't be the center of a child's attention for 15 hours straight. I've adapted a certain realism to my philosophies. I like to think this denotes maturity. I'm also perfectly accepting that my philosophies might change further as I gain experience in parenting...I'm adaptable that way. At this point, I'd be happy with 3-4 hours of educational, yet not completely creepy and annoying, kid's shows and the remainder one-on-one interaction. We'll see how that gets adjusted with time. There's so many different mediums to entertain children other than TV that also prove entertaining for the parents though, it really makes TV a non-necessity in my mind.
When it comes to setting a healthy lifestyle with food, many parents lose their ground as their time gets cut short. It's soooo much easier to hit the fast-food, especially after a long day at work - especially if you're like the average household where both parents have to work (or are a single parent). I have two thoughts on this, and as with the others, I'm sure they'll adapt over time; however, I have seen the extreme difference with healthy eating vs junk food in my body, mood, and overall quality of life. I grew up with the not-so-healthy and have adjusted on my own to gain control over that part of my life. It's amazing and empowering. I think these life changes can only become more concrete with having kids rather than loose as I want to create the best environment and start for them possible.
My secondary thought on food relates to "who rules the roost." I read a really interesting article about a month ago on the differences between European and American parents on who rules the relationship. Not-surprisingly, American parents have adopted this form of "keep the child happy and quiet" approach: less rules, less consequences; less parental dictatorship. Sticking strictly to the food portion of this topic (because other topics are too expansive for right now), as I was growing up, we were very much a "you eat what you get" household. We were also a "finish what's on your plate or you don't get dessert" household. I've seen more parents these days who structure their lives and routine around what [Johnny] won't eat. This has to start early enough that the child realizes that they have control over the parent, just my thought. If a kid is never taught that it's ok to be picky and they're expected to eat (or at least try) what they think they don't like, they become a lot more open to possibilities. I do actually have friends with kids who insist on at least trying-once anything new put in front of them and I've seen it work. So naysayers :-p
Without delving into my other philosophies (and hearing the across-the-interwebz sigh of "yeah right" coming from my screen), there's plenty I still feel strongly on and know that it takes experience to understand. Screaming children in stores still drive me crazy, but I know that one day - it'll be me. I still have no idea how I'm gonna handle that one. I'll figure it out along the way. People who leave dirty diapers on restaurant tables astound me - I don't care how comfortable I get with being a parent and changing diapers, I will always know that not everyone is, and it's not anyone else's duty to have to deal with my kid's poop. I dive into this experience whole-heartedly, with open eyes and mind, and I expect to grow and adapt with the experience. I also can't wait to re-read this in a year or two and catalog what's been "adjusted". ;-)
~Cheers~
PS Hooray!! Morning sickness subsides (for the most part). Mexican and chocolate cravings persist. :D
Monday, February 20, 2012
Pregnancy = Superpowers!!
The pregnant woman is her own variety of superhero - who would've known, right?? You always think of "Moms" as super-heroes: able to multitask 10 things at once; always prepared with a zillion crazy things necessary for daily life with kids; keeping her cool and leaping tall buildings in a single bound!! But what about pre-Moms? As with every superhero, there are a few strangely acute changes and heightened senses which are countered by the various responsibilities, curses, nemeses, and those dreaded-pesky-weaknesses.
Super-Smell!! This is definitely both a blessing and a curse, and more often a curse. Saying that suPer-mom (capital "P" for Pregnant) has heightened smell doesn't quite depict the level of acuity we're afflicted with. It'd be amazing if the world was made up of flowers and fresh breezes, but sadly, that's not the case. When caught in the same room with stomach-turning foods, cigarette-smoking-fiends, and ghastly trash goblins (keeping in mind that we also have a side of morning-noon-night sickness already pushing our stomachs into our throats), it's a wonder all pregnant women don't lose 10 pounds in the first trimester.
On the plus side, I can smell a cigarette burning from 3 floors away; I can smell if foods are bad even without an expiration date; and who needs smoke alarms when the slightest smell of burning can wake you from a catatonic sleep? And, that's all through the 2-months of sinus funk I've been constantly breathing through. I got into the elevator last night after another guy got off, and yeah...totally smokin' the bud...I never would've guessed had I not smelled that green, grassy smell. Maybe I should go apply at the airport; I could be a freakin' drug-sniffing-dog if I needed to be right now.
"With power comes great responsibility" - and foes, and weaknesses: The obvious down side to super-smell I covered briefly above...trust me, you don't want the explicit detail (cigarettes smell like rotten peanut butter). But, there are many more things un-thought of that rival the suPer-mom on a daily basis: nemeses, kriptonite, and even keeping a healthy disguise in certain situations.
The disguise is definitely necessary in the first trimester for a few reasons: waiting until the "safe period" is over; not letting work know too early in case they decide to find replacements for you earlier than expected; and even simple pride - that desire to still be able to do everything you did before being pregnant. "I can totally still go on that hike this weekend!"...(ffw 3 hrs).../wheeze/dizzy/cough/"water!!", annnnnd maybe not so much. Keeping up this disguise in the face of morning-noon-night sickness is about as easy as hiding that red cape under a business suit.
Weaknesses: migraines, fatigue, super-smell (also counts as a weakness, even though it's our super-power), uncontrollable volcano of emotions, fatigue, and more (mentioned in previous posts). I don't think these really need detail...plus I'm getting tired of writing. Did I mention fatigue?
Nemeses: People who smoke & eat stinky foods otherwise perfectly acceptable by normal society; Sappy commercials, movies, and tv shows which completely blind us by watery-eyes ("curse you!!!" /fist to the sky/); Idiots (because they help perpetuate the volcanic explosion of "GRRRRf#*%@*^!!!", which in turn perpetuates migraines & fatigue); and our bladders (because they seem to work overtime in our sleep causing us to get 3 hrs at a time between mid-night potty breaks).
Responsibility: Through all of this, pregnant women face the added responsibility of keeping themselves healthy, vitamin-rich, and emotionally-happy/low-stressed so that the internal bubble of baby is encouraged to grow big and strong. There's numerous tricks and tools: multivitamins, yoga, special-food-lists, baby-Mozart, etc. I'm planning on singing a lot more and listening to more relaxing music starting next week to balance out the stream of obscenities, "RAWR", and Taco Bell I've already afflicted on this poor little sprog. Note to self: go to yoga next week, work on music & singing, sing when angry instead of yelling or holding it in, start going to the pool to relax, and finally - breeeeeeathe....and buy flowers so breathing doesn't offend the nose so much.
Monday, February 13, 2012
♪♫ 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
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
Monday, February 6, 2012
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:
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:
Sunday, January 29, 2012
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.
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.
Crazy Dreams...
So, as it turns out, weird dreams are one of the major oddities that afflict pregnant women. Now, my normal dreams are far from "normal", typically involving zombies, vampires, or tornadoes. But this....this is just wierd.
I have a nice little app on my phone which allows me to catalogue weight changes, moods, cravings, etc. And there is a space for further comments...but after 2 weeks of diligently taking notes to remember my hormonal-neurosis, I have decided that these things need to be shared. Keep in mind, these won't be censored. You've been warned. ;-)
Enter: The Dream Zone..../insert creepy Twilight Zone music here/
Last night's dreams:
1) For some reason or another, it was deemed necessary to cut out the lens of my right eye. I've had Lasik so this isn't all together freaky for me, until the cutting is done by those little gnarly cuticle trimmers. With each little "clip! clip!" I flinched. With the lens cut off, and me holding it in my left hand, I was told I had to rinse my eye out. /rinse-rinse/ I then looked around and noticed everything was blurry out of my right eye. The mystery Peanuts-adult-voice then told me I had to put the lens back in and blink so it could heal. "CRAP!" I dropped the lens...."wait...there it is!" With a little hassle, it went back into my eyeball like a contact lens. "Quick! Blink and let it heal before you wake up!" I tell myself in the dream /blink-blink/....and then I wake up.
2) Back to sleep after weird eye-ball dream, and I'm having sex with Husband in a car at my old high school - in the parking lot back by the band room (yes, I was in band...insert appropriate band-camp jokes here). To clarify, we're our age now in the dream...not high school age. All of a sudden, he has to pee. I'm watching him pee outside the car and it makes me have to go really bad but I can't hold it. In a rather gross moment, I decide to pee on the back seat...only it doesn't come out and go all over the seat - the seat somehow makes it vacuum back into my girl-parts, which causes severe cramping and bloating. Just as I'm wondering in the dream if I've caused some sort of catastrophic internal issue, I'm waking out of the dream and have a rather strong cramping sensation (common, btw) and have to pee like a racehorse. Guess I should drink less water before bed.
I have a nice little app on my phone which allows me to catalogue weight changes, moods, cravings, etc. And there is a space for further comments...but after 2 weeks of diligently taking notes to remember my hormonal-neurosis, I have decided that these things need to be shared. Keep in mind, these won't be censored. You've been warned. ;-)
Enter: The Dream Zone..../insert creepy Twilight Zone music here/
Last night's dreams:
1) For some reason or another, it was deemed necessary to cut out the lens of my right eye. I've had Lasik so this isn't all together freaky for me, until the cutting is done by those little gnarly cuticle trimmers. With each little "clip! clip!" I flinched. With the lens cut off, and me holding it in my left hand, I was told I had to rinse my eye out. /rinse-rinse/ I then looked around and noticed everything was blurry out of my right eye. The mystery Peanuts-adult-voice then told me I had to put the lens back in and blink so it could heal. "CRAP!" I dropped the lens...."wait...there it is!" With a little hassle, it went back into my eyeball like a contact lens. "Quick! Blink and let it heal before you wake up!" I tell myself in the dream /blink-blink/....and then I wake up.
2) Back to sleep after weird eye-ball dream, and I'm having sex with Husband in a car at my old high school - in the parking lot back by the band room (yes, I was in band...insert appropriate band-camp jokes here). To clarify, we're our age now in the dream...not high school age. All of a sudden, he has to pee. I'm watching him pee outside the car and it makes me have to go really bad but I can't hold it. In a rather gross moment, I decide to pee on the back seat...only it doesn't come out and go all over the seat - the seat somehow makes it vacuum back into my girl-parts, which causes severe cramping and bloating. Just as I'm wondering in the dream if I've caused some sort of catastrophic internal issue, I'm waking out of the dream and have a rather strong cramping sensation (common, btw) and have to pee like a racehorse. Guess I should drink less water before bed.
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