Friday, January 30, 2009

When life hands you lemons...

Fortunately, it's lemon, singular. The current size of that person who happens to be stealing my energy and calories. (keep right on stealing the calories, kid!)

Today was the latest OB appointment. Quick and painless.

First Bobbie (the very smiley midwife) measured my uterus and had me feel for it. It is currently up to my belly button, which elicited this reaction, accompanied by a pat on my belly:

"That means some of this is baby!"

To which I responded:

"By which you mean it's now only partly my fatness."

Bobbie is good enough natured (and appears to be honest enough) that she wasn't thrown by my candid admittance that I am not delusional and in fact, am fully aware of my lack of bikini worthy abs.

After taking measurements, which I was suprised, and yet pleased, to see only involve a measuring tape over my belly, we moved on to the doppler for a quick listen of the heartbeat. Almost immediately it was there, as Lemon was feeling very cooperative. Strong and rhythmic, it accomplished making me tear up slightly again, but I quickly recovered not having any family members in the room this time. Bobbie let the doppler linger for a while, saying that now I make my own music.

She then informed me that I should, in the next few weeks, start to be able to FEEL the baby. That kind of blew my mind. I know its there. I have the multiple trips to the bathroom in the middle of the night and the sudden urge to nap to prove it. But the idea that this little person can actually kick my insides and get my attention is, well, weird. In an awesome way, of course. But still, weirdness.

Then, more cool news, I scheduled my next visit, which will involve an ultrasound, and hopefully, as long as my child is not shy (which given it's father and Auntie Lindz, it has a good chance of being outgoing) finding out the sex.

Which means I can discontinue calling it a fruit, vegetable, or other strange thing to be calling your kid. Pronouns are so much easier when you can use the appropriate one.

I also visited my chiro, who readers of the old blog know, I love. He adjusted me, reminded me to make sure I am walking regularly, asked about how I was feeling and then preached the benefits of slathering my belly, butt and thighs with cocoa butter. (that statement is not nearly as creepy as it sounds...)

Next week I bundle up and head to Massachusetts. It has been a while since I have been to the office, so off I go for the week. It was going to be my unveiling (of fatness?), but yesterday a portion of my team found out. Apparently, someone who I used to work with has kept up with my old blog. Enough to see the fairly recent post directing him here. He asked one of the girls in the office about me being pregnant and, well, that was that. Granted, only a few people know, but it was funny to find that I was THIS close to keeping it secret until I got there.

And to the silent former-collegue-blog-reader, hello! Hope all is well with you :)


Currently listening to: Happiness by The Weepies (E - I see a mix CD in your future.)
Currently feeling: Completely fine. Fancy that. This baby growing business isn't so bad.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Prego Shopping Extravaganza!!!

Monday, Monday, MONDAY!!!

I had the day off on Monday, so I thought I would take advantage of the full day to do whatever I like to accomplish one of two things:

1) Clean and organize my house
2) Shop for maternity/baby related items

Can you guess which I chose?

My mother and I set out to hit a few consignment shops to see what goodies we could find. Maternity clothes tend to seem overpriced, and considering that they often end up being gently used, why not find them second hand?

In our quest, we ended up at a thrift store we had never come across and wasn't on the planned list of places to check out. I wasn't too hopeful as we entered, as it looked large and lacking in organization. I should make it clear that while I enjoy little boutique like second hand stores, where everything has its place and its easy to find what you are looking for, I have never had the patience required to be a successful Thrift shopper. My mother and sister are blessed with the skills needed to paw through rack upon rack upon box of items to find that coveted awesome deal, but me? Not so much.

Fortunately, having my mother with me, I did manage to pull my limited shopping patience together and sort through two large boxes of shoes/boots. I wouldn't have bothered, but they were all Rieker, which are comfortable and expensive shoes. Sorting was required to find a matching pair that was not defective, and in your size. I came away with a great pair of flats that I will be VERY thankful I found as the pregnancy gets further along, and my mom got flats, boots, and really cute little heels.

Most of the other planned stops were sadly closed (don't know why I hadn't thought that through...if I have the day off, maybe someone else does!). One consignment shop actually had a few things (yay!) so I was pretty pleased with what I found for the day.

We planned to make one more stop at Macy's, since my mom had a $25 certificate to spend. We inevitably ended up in the baby section, where my mother spent her certificate (and then some) on non-gender specific baby clothes.

As we left, I noticed the Motherhood Maternity store had lots of sales signs, so I suggested we take a quick look. A large bag of clothes and a much lighter back account later, we finally finished our day of shopping.

So while I spent FAR more than I had planned, I got some great essentials (jeans, khakis, comfy SUMMERY dresses) for really good prices, so it was a good shopping day.

An exhausting one, but successful.


Listening to: Brown Eyed Girl by Van Morrison

Friday, January 16, 2009

5 a' clock in the mornin'...

...where ya gonna be?

Apparently, not sleeping.

Lately, like clockwork, I wake up at 5 feeling oh so miserable. The only way to make me feel slightly better is to drag myself out of bed and eat. So here I am, polishing off a bowl of Basic 4, waiting for my body to process that it has been fed and it is now safe to go back to sleep.

Being that I could sleep until, say, Tuesday, this new development is not so much I love you.

Thanks a lot, limey.

Current Mood: Sleepy and cranky
Baby's Current Size: The size of a lime. A hungry, angry lime.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Somewhat Awesomeness

As I write this, I am two days away from my 12th week.

And guess what?

I am not in a constant state of nausea. Just like the books/internet sites/random advice givers said. I celebrated yesterday evening by eating not one, but TWO cinnamon buns and spending a fortune on groceries.

Awesome.

I say I am not in a constant state of nausea, because I am still a bit sensitive. I do not want to eat or smell fish. I can't seem to stomach the smell of raw meat period (which will make this week's beef stew a challenge). And I am sure there are other food smells that send me into an immediate frenzy. If I steal your sandwich from your hands and throw it as far away as I can, I apologize now. I can't be held responsible for my actions at this point.

In other symptoms...I fall asleep watching TV almost every night now. We are not talking falling asleep during Conan. Not even while watching Colbert. Think a little closer to the Prime Time bracket. During exciting shows that I enjoy. I just suddenly am overcome by a wave of exhaustion that overtakes me with no warning.

It is also kinda awesome.

I mean, sure, I may not see the end of my favorite show, but that is what DVR is for, friends. I can't tell you the last time I could just fall asleep without trying. That is the sweetest sleep. The one where your eyes close and your whole body relaxes and you don't even know that you are falling asleep. The kind of sleep you fight when sitting behind your desk, but never seems to greet you when you get home. It's like floating. Without the water in your ears.

As far as size goes, I definitely feel like I am getting bigger, although the scale is still barely budging. There is definitely more belly there then there was before. Not that I want to be big...but I would like to get past the "I ate one too many cinnamon rolls" phase and move on to the "I look pregnant" phase.

On the rest of my life front, the many photo taking activities this weekend went well. The bride and groom for the wedding I shot could not have been sweeter, which made things slightly less stressful. I say less stressful because all I could think while I was taking photos was "what am I doing?" The drawback of caring about what you do is worrying that you aren't going to make the people you are doing it for happy. In the end, I am glad I did it.

Oh, and also, I was thoroughly exhausted and in all my jumping up and down, running to and fro, squatting in weird positions, I discovered a few muscles that I clearly never use.

Here is a shot from their wedding:


The engagement shoot (for the groom's sister, a good friend of mine) was much less stressful. Not that I didn't care just as much, just that you have much more control over that type of shoot.

This is one of my favorite shots...


The sad part of the weekend was the departure of my little nephew. My brother and his wife had been visiting for the week. She had to leave early for a talk in San Fran (I think?) so my brother and nephew stayed a little longer.

Seriously, I know I am totally partial, but how can you not love this cuteness?



And so I leave you with the cuteness that is Squeakles. Enjoy.


Listening to: Paperweight by Joshua Radin (on Pandora.com's The Weepies station)
Current Mood: Hungry! Yay!

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Figs

I left you all hanging after the last post. Sorry. Things were busy - my adorable nephew was in town and I got distracted with that.

The appointment went well. J and my mom came along to (hopefully) hear the baby's heartbeat. I was actually a lot more nervous then I let on. All I could think was "what if they don't find it?". One of the drawbacks of the information age is all the bad stories you hear. Plenty of which involve women who didn't know anything was wrong until this visit. And then they find out the pregnancy isn't viable.

So I laid on the table, trying to breathe, listening to the sloshy sounds of my own blood flowing. I closed my eyes as the midwife poked around with the Doppler, trying to find something.

And then there it was. Much faster than the sleepy sounds from my own body, and much clearer. There really is a baby in there!

The relief in knowing he or she was there made me tear up and I could feel my lip quivering a little. I didn't look at my mom or anyone, but I felt J put his hand on my leg. When we left I found out that my mom was crying too, and being surrounded by emotional females, J had no choice but to tear up himself.

We left, and in celebration of finding that there indeed was a person growing inside me, we bought furntiture for the baby room. :)


In other news, I managed to get sick AGAIN this week. This time it was a sore throat that evolved into a nasty cough. I am feeling a lot better, although I don't sound like I am quite yet.

Also, I am shooting a wedding this weekend. (yes, that's right) A friend's brother is getting married and they were in need of a photographer. They were referred to me oddly enough, so we'll see how it goes!


Listening to: Can't Go Back Now by The Weepies
Weeks Along: 11
Size of the Baby: Fig-Sized. :)