Monday, March 30, 2009

More hurry up and wait

I still don't have much new to report; my spastic little inhabitant loves making her presence known and I love knowing she's there. Shaun sat with me for a bit this weekend and was able to feel her kick as well. I wish he could be over here with me in the mornings; it seems mornings are her favorite time to tap dance in there. I really wish I had a window to watch her move. When I see depictions of how big she's getting relative to her current home, it just blows me away.

This weekend was pretty nice; we went out to dinner on Friday night and went to Babies R Us to pick up two more little outfits for Kayla. We also did a little furniture shopping, but haven't purchased anything. After finding our coffee table sort of in pieces on Thursday, we decided that something a bit sturdier than glass resting on a wooden frame is probably in order. I'm not going to stress about it until Kayla is crawling and threatening to start pulling herself up, but if we can find something reasonable between now and then, so much the better. We need to go to Ikea to look for a little bookshelf for her room anyway, so we'll have a look there when we go. We spent some more time watching the NCAA Tournament with our friends (speaking of which - I'm done. I got 0 - yes that's zero - of the Final Four) and survived one heck of a storm on Sunday. It was brief but intense - some quarter sized hail, crazy winds and torrential downpours. It was scary for a couple of minutes, but thankfully we didn't find any damage on the front of the house or either car. One of these days we will have a house where we can garage at least one vehicle... maybe even both.

Thankfully now our next appointment is only a week away, and they will be every two weeks after that until June, when they'll go to weekly until I deliver. I'm so excited for things to continue moving forward; the more days that go by, the more anxious I feel. For now I'm just sitting and waiting and counting down the days... Only 103 more to go!


25W2D

Monday, March 23, 2009

Public Service Announcement

I think I speak for pregnant women everywhere when I say:

My uterus is not a matter of national security, a threat to public safety, out of compliance with OSHA regulations or in violation of any federal, state or local laws.

Therefore it is none of your damn business. If I want to have a cup of half regular/half decaf in the afternoon because I am tired and my boss scheduled me to be in a meeting from 3:30 - 5:00 PM, I am going to do so whether my nosy coworkers in the break room think it's OK for me or not.

Thank you in advance for butting out.


(This mini-manifesto was brought to you by the League of Knocked Up Bitches and Progesterone. Beware, more full-length rants may be coming at you at any moment.)

Moving right along

Last week I felt my first identifiable Braxton Hicks contraction; other than that small milestone I really don't have a whole lot that's new or exciting to report. 24 weeks came and went without fanfare. It's comforting to know that if anything would happen from here on out, everything possible would be done for my daughter. I try not to think about anything happening though. I have plenty of years left to worry about her health and safety. Right now she's in one of the safest places she'll ever be, and I'm doing everything I can to make sure she and I are both healthy and happy for the next 15+ weeks and beyond.

Chances are that anyone who asks me how I'm feeling these days is going to get the same response: tired but doing well. That pretty much sums it all up. I'm not sleeping through the night regularly (whether is be because I need to pee or because I'm having a weird dream or even a nightmare) so dragging myself through the day is getting harder. I think really starting to hate my job situation has something to do with that as well; I can't believe it took so long. In any case though, the situation is what it is and I know I'm stuck for now.

Kayla is doing great though. I love feeling her move, especially since her sleeping and waking patterns are starting to become more regular. I no longer panic if she's quiet for a couple of hours. I still grin like an idiot every time she kicks me with all her strength. It's a wonderful thing.

This weekend was good, filled with fun times with friends while we watched the NCAA tourney. Guess who got 15 of the Sweet 16 teams correct... OH YEAH! My Elite 8 is still intact as well. We'll see how long that lasts. Until the games restart on Thursday though, I'm just going to enjoy being tied for first place in our pool. Sunday I finally took some time to just stay home and get the house cleaned up. I also got to watch Twilight, which arrived in the mail on Saturday. YAY!

I guess for now I'm just going to keep on keeping on until my next appointment, which is now 2 weeks away. I still struggle to grasp how fast the days are flying by now. Seeing 15 weeks 5 days as the time remaining in my pregnancy this morning was extremely surreal. Wow. I can't imagine what it's going to be like once we hit May and we have something going on every single weekend for that month and into June. It's going to be interesting. Never a dull moment in our house.

24W2D

Monday, March 16, 2009

Other Developments

It occurrs to me that I failed to mention our daycare visit last Tuesday afternoon. We reserved Kayla a spot at St. Paul's Christian Child Care for when I return to work (hopefully only 3 days a week) starting in September. Gail (the director of the daycare) showed us around and told us a bit about how each day is structured for all the age groups that attend there. We started with the rooms for some of the older kids, and then ended our tour in the infant room. All the babies seemed happy and well cared for. I got to babble and play a little bit with a baby girl that was about 3 months old. She was absolutely one of the most adorable things I'd ever seen. It made me that much more anxious for Kayla's arrival.

I am still apprehensive about having to leave my little angel in someone else's care when she's a mere 8 weeks old, but I know that there is just no way around it for now. There's also no way it would be any easier if I could stay home until she was 5 or 6 years old and I were dropping her off for her first day of Kindergarten. This way I know she's going to start getting socialization at a very young age, and in the case that we wouldn't have any more children, this will be really important for her later years. The director of the place is wonderful; she knew every parent and child we crossed paths with by name, and could tell us which kids had siblings in what age groups. I was really impressed by that.

So we've now hit 23 weeks and Kayla is the size of a Papaya. Her movements are getting stronger all the time. There are moments that I'll feel a jab and it's as though my entire abdomen jumps. I'm hoping that the anterior placenta will hamper Shaun's ability to feel her moving less in the near future. That's something I've been looking forward to sharing ever since I felt those first little pokes back at the end of January.

Shaun's mom gave us a really cute little outfit she picked up for Kayla yesterday. It's adorable. I swear, it gets harder and harder every day to keep myself from running off to Target or BRU or Kohl's and spending a small fortune on teeny tiny baby clothes. Less than 2 months till the baby shower, then I can go out and fill in any gaps on a shopping trip of my own. I'm so looking forward to that.

23W2D

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Presents!

Over the last 2 days, two presents that I ordered arrived! Apparently Bananafish discontinued the mobile and the more attractive of the two blankets that go with the bedding we've chosen. They were marked as available in store only with Babies R Us, and I have never seen any of this stuff in any of the stores we've been in. Being the paranoid control freak that I am, I took it upon myself to order them from other places as I could find them. It took two shots to get the blanket, but I got it! It's absolutely perfect; soft and cuddly and looks great. It felt so good to put something we bought for her in there!







It was bound to happen...

A midwife finally spoke up about my weight gain. She said she'd like to see me not putting on so much so quickly. *le sigh* I guess my days of being happier than a pig in slop while enjoying dessert are over with. I need to step away from the cheeses and stop eating so many grapes on grocery day (so much for "they're just grapes!"). It's back to salads with fat free dressing and strict portion control from here on out. As long as my resolve holds. Which I make no promises about. It's a good thing I enjoyed my Arby's meal so thoroughly last night... it's the last I'll be having for a while.

Other than that, everything is fine. Kayla was moving around a lot while the midwife was trying to get her heartbeat on the doppler, per her usual MO. My belly measured 23 cm, right on for 22 1/2 weeks. (Isn't it amazing that with all the technology out there, one of the best ways they can measure your and your baby's growth is still with a tape measure?) The midwife did get a big smile on her face when she looked over the report from our ultrasound 2 weeks ago and said that as she was "sure we were told during the scan" that our baby is "perfect and growing right on track." There is no better news that an anxious mommy to be could hear.

All in all it seems like everything is going OK. I have my next appointment in about 4 weeks for my next midwife visit, my glucose tolerance test and some other blood work, including a Hepatitis C test they realized I should have gotten in the beginning because I have a tattoo that was (at the time I got pregnant) less than a year old. Hopefully by then I'll have my weight gain under control and please at least one of the midwives who sees me over the next few months.

22W5D

Monday, March 9, 2009

Nursery Video Tour

Check out the Photobucket account for the updated nursery and belly pics as well!

Is that the best they could do?

I was so beside myself when we left for dinner on Saturday and I realized a) I was sans iPod and b) I hadn't checked the updated food counterpart for Kalya this week. It would turn out that this week my disappointment was totally unfounded, as she is now the size of... a spaghetti squash? Seriously? That's the best thing they could come up with? What a let down.

Aside from that bummer of a moment, it was a good weekend. We had dinner at a restaurant in Kennett Square on Saturday evening. They specialize in wild game. It was a cool place, I just wish I'd felt as though I had the stomach to try something other than fillet tips on a salad. Unfortunately, wild meat is typically so lean, they don't like to cook it past medium rare. That normally would be fine for me, but for Kayla's sake, I should be eating everything fairly well done. Of course, I wasn't the only one eating my meal well done that evening...

CONGRATS to Adam and Kristen who are now 6 1/2 weeks pregnant with their first baby together! I just know that Trevor is going to be a fantastic big brother, and I am so excited that Kayla will have already have a friend who is only 3 months younger than she is! Wishing you guys a happy and healthy 9 months (or 38 - 39 weeks as the case may be)!

With all the excitement and craziness going on, we were able to relax on Sunday, which is good. The little aches and pains are starting to ramp up now, and I had a really hard time sleeping last night. I woke up every few hours to roll onto my other side, which is a feat to accomplish now (I have to take it pretty slow in order to avoid pulling something or causing myself additional pelvic/round ligament pain). Add in the fact that I was wrapped around a body pillow and trying my hardest to keep that in between my knees all night, and it makes for a lot of tossing and turning and not a whole lot of shut eye. I actually stayed in bed for two snooze alarms this morning; the first time I hit the snooze button at all in quite a while.

Yet they keep telling me that this is the stuff I will forget as soon as she's born. ;-)

While I'm thinking of it, a HUGE thank you to my dad and step mom who delivered the dresser/changing table on Thursday. Kayla's room is now all furnished (thank goodness, because nothing else larger than a baby or her clothing will FIT in that room now!) and ready for the rest of the fun stuff to arrive! It was all I could do to keep from going crazy and buying all kinds of stuff on Saturday morning when we went to Babies R Us, but I know I need to be patient and wait until after the shower to go too crazy.

One thing I do really have it lodged in my head that I want to buy (besides SOMETHING to put on the walls in her room) is a book for tracking baby's firsts. I found the cutest handmade, ribbon bound, fabric covered ones made by a company in New England, but I just can't bring myself to spend this kind of money for this. I present to you, the Baby's First Book by Rag and Bone Bindery. They have so many beautiful cover designs, I don't know if I could choose just one anyway. But no matter how many other ones I see, I keep going back to this one and a matching brag book to carry with me. I'm hoping a trip to the Flower and Craft Warehouse to see what they have in stock will cure this itch.

We have another busy week in front of us now, but I will be sure to check in after my 22 week appointment on Wednesday. It's so hard to believe that I will only have one more "monthly" appointment after this one and then I will start going every 2 weeks. Time really does fly! It's hard to believe that Wednesday will mark 5 months down and 4 to go.


22W2D

Monday, March 2, 2009

I'm such a slacker

My apologies first and foremost for being behind on belly shots. I meant to pick them back up at 20 weeks and do them every week from there on out. I missed that mark, but we'll start now at 21 weeks and go from there. It's so hard to want to get in front of a camera these days...

Anyway, it's been another eventful few days since my last entry. Nothing nearly so thrilling as seeing our little angel again and being able to give her a name, but eventful none the less. We picked up the new car over lunch on Friday. It was a nice day, near 50 degrees when we went into the dealership. We got through inspecting the car, signing the paperwork and going over the manuals (this thing has a LOT of manuals) and just as we pulled out of the garage bay into the lot, it started to rain. And not just a few drops either, it POURED. Go figure. At least now we have it, Shaun has it (mostly) set up the way he wants it and we have two cars safe and appropriate for baby hauling.

Saturday was a beautiful, sunny day. But it was cold. Too cold to enjoy the sunroof in the new car. Boo! We had lunch with my mom, which was a lot of fun (not to mention we are all crazy about the food at Barny's!). Then we dashed home to clean up the house a bit and have some friends over for dinner. Thanks to inspiration from a website and a little show called "Man VS Food" there are four of us in the area who are all walking heart attacks now. Thank you very much.

Sunday wasn't very exciting, but they rarely are. I had a killer headache most of the day, so I was pretty much useless. We did start watching the first season of Heros on Netflix. Great show, really addictive.

The only other news right now is the crazy snow we're getting! It could be as much as 5 - 8" by the end of the day today. Nothing compared to the freak 8 - 10" we got a few weeks ago when no one was predicting it, but still inconvenient. I've had enough of this crap already.

There's no real news with the canteloupe baby (I can't resist the food comparisons even though she has a name now) other than a lot more movement. I felt her thumping me quite a few times this weekend; it always makes me smile. I'm sure that will change when my ribs start getting in the way, but for now it's still amazing. I actually can't wait to go for my regular checkup next week so I get to hear her heartbeat again. It's about the only thing worth having to get on the scale for...

21W2D