Friday, February 22, 2008

Half-time

I couldn't possibly let the day go by without marking this milestone..

I'm halfway through this pregnancy!! 20 weeks baby!!

How did that happen? Belly shot to be uploaded shortly.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

It's a.....

Hi! Yeah, that's our baby waving to you all!! Cool, huh?
Ultrasound was incredible, and bizarre all at once. The baby was moving all over the place, giving the tech some great shots. And the baby is adorable, and probably a pianist. Or C. thinks maybe a boxer. Either way, the baby has my nose. And C.'s feet.

So...the news you've all been waiting for...drumroll, please. We are having a BABY! Only the u/s tech knows, which is kind of a funny feeling. It will be in our report that goes to the midwife, so we can potentially change our minds later. For now, though, a surprise. Yeah, my mom's pissed too.

Another surprise...the baby has irregularly large kidney 'funnels'. The valve at the end of the 'funnel' (yes, very technical) may not close properly, basically squirting pee in the wrong direction. The doc said that 50% of the time the baby adjusts itself before born. Or it could be born with this issue and be prone to infections for the first few months of life, eventually resolving itself. Or, it could be worse. I can't find much information out there on Dr. G00gle because I don't know what to search. Any help out there? Anyway, we go back in 8 weeks to see if there has been any progress. Everything else looks a-ok. Measures correctly, bones in the right places, 10 fingers and toes, brain, heartbeat strong and steady.

It was really something to see the little pumpkin up close.





Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Tomorrow is it - the ultrasound. It seems that this decision, much like which candidate I was going to vote for on Super Tuesday, is coming down to the wire. I really don't want to find out the sex of the baby anymore, and S. is sort of wavering. I think she's insisting we write it down on a slip of paper, place it in a sealed envelope and then pass it off to her mother, who will hoard the information and not tell us even if we begged and screamed. Or--we find out. I am not dying to know, unlike S. I admit that I was temporarily blinded this weekend when we went away and went to the best stores with the cutest baby clothes ever. But we managed to find the cute gender-neutral stuff (the definition of "gender neutral" clothing is another thing S. and I seem to disagree on, we've come to discover). At any rate, I'm just thrilled to see the baby again up on the big screen, see its little heart beating, and make sure everything is a-o.k.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Sex, no not that kind

A midwife appointment in the middle of our snow day today. It was nice to be home together beforehand and to be a little leisurely I must say.
Heard the racing heartbeat at 150bpm. I have really begun to anticipate that sound and it's so reassuring to hear it. Had our appt. with a different midwife (there's 6 total) and actually had the chance to meet two others. It's important to know them all - you never know who'll be catching the baby!!

The big ultrasound is next week. We actually asked the midwife to weigh-in on the daily ongoing discussion in our household - and now it's your turn. To find out? Or to not find out? She actually suggested waiting, because the moment of the birth is so overwhelming and emotional and not knowing just adds to it. Here are our thoughts on both viewpoints:
  • our nursery decor will not be changed by the sex of our baby - we're just not into 'themes'
  • it might be special for C. to be able to announce the sex at birth
  • the anticipation might help me get through labor a bit
  • we both hate baby pink and baby blue and don't want to be inundated by clothes etc. as gifts
  • we sometimes see things that we want to buy for baby girls and baby boys
  • the NAME GAME, which has begun...girl list is l-o-n-g and the boy list has 1. We could focus our efforts here
  • another option...find out and keep it a secret!
We change our mind everyday. So, stay tuned and weigh-in!

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Love to Hate Her

S. and I watched the Grammy's for the first time in probably about 4 or 5 years on Sunday. I stopped watching the Grammy's mainly because I honestly didn't know who any of the nominees were anymore, since I don't really listen to the regular radio (a lot of podcasts, though, and internet radio, where there's more freedom to play more interesting things). The 50th Anniversary show promised to be packed with performances, and it really was--I think we saw like, five awards actually given out on-air. We eagerly stayed up for the much-anticipated Amy Winehouse satellite performance. As creepy as she is for real, I love her music: the beat, the style, and her unique voice. I think she is a piece of druggie trash, however, who obviously needs a lot of help. It makes me feel sad since she is actually so beautiful and talented. If you G*ogle her, you'll see a few examples of what she looked like before she became..whatever it is that she is now. At any rate, I ended up being pretty pleased with this year's Grammy's--an unusual Album of the Year winner (Herbie Hancock) and Winehouse with a few wins as well. Here's hoping rehab actually works this time for her!


Monday, February 11, 2008

Relief!

The tides finally turned and S. is feeling better. She ate very little over the weekend, but enough that she was nourished and her fluids and nutrients were sufficiently restored. I think she's almost 100% today (as 100% as a preggo could be, anyway!). Phew! Now we're just looking forward to our midwife appointment on Wednesday to hear pumpkin movin' and groovin' again and check to make sure everything is a-ok. So far, so good!

Friday, February 08, 2008

Sick!

Poor S. is sick. Sick, sick, sick as a dog. Maybe this is her payback for going through the entire first trimester with nary a pregnancy symptom. So far today she's exploded from both ends (ahem--that is gross. Sorry to be so graphic.) and barely wants to eat or drink anything. She also has a smidgy-bitty-bit of a fever. Obviously I'm concerned. At first we thought it was bad heartburn, so I bought her some pills much stronger than your average Tums. Next, Imodium. Nothing doing. It's all coming out anyway. At any rate, she's sleeping soundly now, which means she's finally gotten comfortable. Luckily I was home most of the day today, since I had taken a personal day from school to contest a speeding ticket. Which I totally won. Maybe I was destined to go to law school and missed my calling. Or maybe it was fate that S. had to get sick on a day I would be home to take care of her. At any rate, I'm worried about keeping her hydrated, both for her sake at the pumpkin's. She doesn't really want to eat or drink much of anything, so I'm trying to force it upon her. It's only sort of working. I know she's doing the best she can.

Anyone get really sick during pregnancy when it wasn't necessarily pregnancy-related?

Monday, February 04, 2008

Around the Bend

Apparently having a baby in your belly means you must snore like a buzzsaw during supposedly-relaxing naptimes. Or at least that's what it's like in our house these days. For Valentine's Day, S. is getting the Snoogle, which will hopefully help her (and me) get a good night's rest. I think I'm getting a really cool camera bag so I can tote my fancy cam around with me - no excuses. It's hard hauling that big-ass thing around when you're used to a point-and-shoot. Ideally I'd like to have at least a thorough understanding of what all of the manual settings do, even if I don't quite have the hang of using them yet.

Other than that, it's pretty peaceful around here. The weekend blasted us with ice, then warm weather (okay, like 40 degrees) to help it melt away. We're supposed to even maybe hit a big 50 this week. Wooo!

I've also been racking my brain trying to decide who to vote for. Yes, I am that person. Right now I'd rather be reading cookbooks than arming myself with information so I think it's going to be a down-to-the-wire kind of moment in the voting booth tomorrow. And speaking of down-to-the-wire..the Pats blew it last night big time. The Giants totally deserved that win---they way out-played us. And I don't really care, because all the Superbowl means to us is that baseball season (and spring, glorious spring!) is calling from around the bend. Also around the bend--another midwife appt. next week and our big ultrasound in two. Can't wait.