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!

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!

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!

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?

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.

Azz Master Demotion

Apparently I was way too soon in declaring us Azz Masters of the Universe. I guess I jinxed us, as the woman who was to sell us the diaps to complete our stash sold them out from under our feet. She clearly does not get Cr@igs.list selling etiquette. We were half-tempted to write her a nasty e-mail but felt it would probably be bad karma to start something. So I guess we'll have to be demoted from Azz Master to Bum Afficionado or some such lesser rank. Grrr....and I don't really know Margaret Cho's stand-up well so I don't know about the azz master reference, but I do remember the Seinfeld episode with the "Azz Man" license plate that Kramer accidentally got from the DMV. Hee hee.

And it's official--S. has popped and has no more use for her normal-sized clothes. She had to wear her pants with the top button unbuttoned all day long. Poor thing! I'll leave you with our 16-week (now almost 17-week) belly shot--our first!

Axx Masters

We are the axx-masters of the universe. We are nearly completely done with buying cloth diapers, except for a few odds and ends. Thank you, Craigslist! And what is it about cloth-diapering mamas? They are so overly-friendly, ready to give you advice about diapering and other baby-related things at the drop of the hat, and are so genuinely happy for your pregnant. It's wonderful! The last mom we purchased diapers from mentioned a great website, Diaper Swappers. Just thought other trolling moms would like to know!

I went to the gym today, after waking up sore from cleaning the house top to bottom. I thought that seemed a bit pathetic and took it as a sign that I was so far past out-of-shape that I ought to hop on the treadmill immediately. It was torturous, and now I'm even more sore, but I feel better.

In other news..since my high school is filled with gossipmongers, everyone knows that S. is pregnant. Most have never met her, since I rarely attend school events, but they do know that I'm pregnant but not pregnant. That's totally fine. What I'm not fine with is when people start gossiping about my other pregnant lesbian English teacher friend when she's only 7 weeks pregnant. NOT cool, especially when she hasn't chosen to openly tell many people. Someone's blabbing...So how do you break it to high schoolers that you're having a baby, but not? I feel it might be unfair if I come back in the fall and suddenly say, "I had a baby over the summer, guys! Wanna see a pic of my new kid?" and them be all confused because, hey, I had her last year and she didn't look like she had gained that much weight...I'm sure the right moment will present itself. It usually does. And if not, you just make one.

My Morphing Lovie-Love

I love my baby S. Love her, and the baby she's carrying for us. But Preggo S. is different. My old baby loved sandwiches for lunch and despised leftovers. Preggo S. is the opposite, refusing to eat bread unless it's an accompaniment to a meal, and only choosing leftovers the next day for lunch. Also, Preggo S. has trouble sleeping. I feel horrible for her. She tosses and turns, and between me, the animals, and her growing discomfort , she can't get any rest. I awoke in the very early morning hours today to find that my pillow had somehow been swept off of the bed out from under my head in what I'm sure was as fit of unrest by S. between her eight minutes of sleep.

So tonight we're switching it up. I'm up and can't seem to settle down, and she's sleeping soundly in our bed. The dog is probably still being a bed hog (or "bed dog," as we call him on these occasions), so I think I'll finish up this post and let her have a peaceful night's sleep for once as I slip into the guest room for the night.

Anyone try the Snoogle? I think we're at the point of needing one. But I haven't figured out how S. is going to now share the bed with me, the dog, the cat, and a giant, ergonomic body pillow, all in a mere double (not queen) bed.

I'm in love...

...with the film Juno. I know I'm totally late on the Juno bandwagon here, but S. and I rarely go see movies. We chose to see this one. We loved it. More importantly, I think I'm in love with Ellen Page, and I am definitely digging the soundtrack. Luuuuv it. Highly recommended, two thumbs up, etc. etc. etc. Go see it. Buy the soundtrack. It's just so---I don't know. Free and easy, but heavy and appropriate for dealing with issues like teen pregnancy and the desperateness of infertility. And it makes me feel like a college radio DJ again. Happy sighs.

oneofhismoms wondered if my belly was larger than hers. I have been reluctant to post photos, because, well, um, I looked pretty preggo even before I was. It has definitely begun to grow, but let's just say I probably had a head start. Photos will come, I'm just waiting for the right 'stage', where, say, a stranger might notice and feel comfortable commenting.
Now down to business...she also tagged us to do this meme wherein you will learn 6 quirks about us. However, since I have participated in a similar meme before, I am handing this one over to my honey, C.!

The Rules:
1) Link to the person that tagged you.
2) Post the rules on your blog.
3) Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself.
4) Tag at least three people at the end of your post and link to their blogs.
5) Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
6) Let the fun begin!

Well, okay--here it goes. I think I bailed out on the last meme, so it's definitely my due:

1. I have a name that has many variations and various nick-names. When someone calls me by the wrong name, or wrong nick-name, I get really angry but rarely say anything to correct the person. Go figure.

2. I hate to clean but sweep the floor obsessively because I can't stand when there are crumbs on my bare feet. I also hate when my socks get wet.

3. In high school, I dyed my hair jet black and thought my parents wouldn't notice because to me, it looked "natural," not knowing that few people in this world actually have naturally jet black hair. (They noticed, by the way.)

4. I can drive both a standard and an automatic, but S. will say I better "stick" to the automatic because I'm not so great at shifting. I think I do just fine.

5. Before owning a house, I had never, ever, ever run a lawnmower (my Dad wouldn't let me). Now I both mow the lawn and snowblow the driveway. What a babe I am.

6. I just remembered that I already did a meme. Hee hee.

Now tagging: Vanessa and Mel, the Bluemonts, and Jude & Jen. Have fun!

Congrats in order! Finally.

Now that's reason to celebrate - a snow day AND a heartbeat.

Our little pumpkin was moving around so much she had to chase him/her with the doppler. We kept hearing little kicks. The midwife said s/he was very active. We like to think there was some dancing going on, as we had just been boogeying down in the car. It really is a sound I will remember forever.

I concede, second trimester AND a heartbeat. It's time to relax and enjoy.

A Tale of Three Mamas

Things have been..well..quiet and boring over here for the most part, aside from S. peeing every five minutes and blowing through rolls of toilet paper like you wouldn't believe! Now into our 2nd trimester, I think we've been conservative in expressing our joy and anticipation of being pregnant because we hadn't yet heard the heartbeat. Well, we're supposed to hear it at our midwife's appointment tomorrow, but thanks to living in New England, we're getting a snow storm that will most likely cancel school and close all businesses. Ack! And it's not all that easy to reschedule here. I think we're going to have to beg and cry to get another after-school appointment for sometime relatively soon!

In the meantime, we've been trolling Cr*igslist like insane women looking for things we want but feel foolish registering for, like really expensive strollers and whatnot. Our family just makes fun of us too much so we're buying what we really want ourselves. Over the course of yesterday, we made three purchases from three very different kind of mothers. Just thought it would be interesting to compare:

Mother 1:

Purchased this lovely stroller from her.

Got a heck of a deal on this gorgeous P@g-Perego stroller. At first, we felt weird about purchasing a stroller another baby had used a lot, but this woman had a self-proclaimed "stroller fetish" and owned about 5 or 6 really expensive ones. It was hardly used, and there's not a scratch on the thing. It looks brand new. You could tell this woman liked to shop. She also had about 5 cars in her driveway.

Mother 2:

By far the most down-to-earth mama and the one we could relate the most to. We bought 10 infant cloth diapers from her and she was really sweet and said she'd call us in the future as her babies grew out of stuff. Really, really nice, and she even threw in a free pair of infant pants! (Her son grew out of infant stuff too fast.)


Mother 3:

We purchased a mini co-sleeper and a Baby Bj*rn from her. She lived in campus housing at a local college and we had to call and e-mail her about 5 times to get her to agree on a time to meet. When I called again yesterday morning, she sounded half asleep or stoned or something and asked if we could come by later on in the afternoon. Really, lady--we're paying you $100--the least you could do is be a little accommodating! When she came out of her dorm (she only wanted to meet us in the parking lot), she looked like a wacko. That's all I'll say. We were glad to get out of there.

It was interesting to see the completely different mamas in our area yesterday. They all obviously had things we wanted to buy, but oh my lord--if you ever had a meeting with all three of them, I think something interesting could happen. Is this what a mommy's group is like???

Great in '08!

I really super-de-duperly love my dog. Not only is he cute to look at, he's the snuggliest dog on the planet and the biggest love muffin ever. Ringo is his name, and we adopted him from the Animal Control shelter (where they put the dogs to sleep) in Brooklyn. It was a scary place, and he was really scrawny and ugly when we adopted him, but somehow saw through that to the cuteness. We had no idea how cute he's really be.

Now we're afraid that we've wasted all our cuteness on our dog, and our baby might be..not cute. We do not have a baby picture of our donor, like some of the other donors we used did, so we really don't know. We're betting on S.'s genes being the dominant ones so that we have a baby that's recognizable. We did our best to match the donor to me, but I guess you just never know. I try not to think about those things too much, but I feel it's probably something I'll have to answer soon when I start telling a lot of people I work with. As far as I know, there are lesbians at school, but not ones whose partner is pregnant, so I guess I'll be the first. Hopefully I can dodge most of the questions that make people think and probably make them a tad bit uncomfortable, but I'm really fine with answering them all the same.

Happy New Year!! Here's what we ate, besides the 5-course French dinner:

It's a "Bouche de Noel," or Yule Log. Our friend Stacey made it, and wouldn't you say it's ridiculously amazing for her first one?? Stacey is also going to be S.'s doula, and the baby's due date is her birthday, so we think of her as good luck. She claims she needed a head start in giving S. gestational diabetes (joke). Speaking of which, S. has decided that officially, none of her pants fit her. This weekend she seems to have warped into a truly pregnant lady (peeing, weird cravings, etc.).

I have taken so many pictures over the past few days, but I don't know how to upload them yet, so when I do I'll post some of our festivities. We got a very fancy new camera from my mom, which I'm still learning how to use. We had a pretty mellow Christmas. If I do say so myself, I cooked a kick-ass meal on Christmas Eve and we had a great time making merry and such, and we all realized that next Christmas Eve will be utter chaos--S. and I will have had our baby, S.'s cousin's new baby will be a year old, her other cousin's baby will be 2 1/2 and then in May she's popping out TWIN girls. Oh my. Where all those kids will go, I don't know, but it sure will be fun! Christmas day was quiet-S.'s uncle went into the hospital and wasn't around, but it was nice to not have to cook or clean or take any sort of responsibility.

We had a little bit of a frustrating experience at the midwife's office today. S. went in to get her glucose test done. This requires drinking a glucose drink, waiting around for an hour, then getting blood drawn. Too bad that the MW's office didn't know that every single person from the lab was out until 2:00 today and we had to draw blood at 1:15. Luckily, a quick-thinking midwife did a finger prick test just in time (phew!), and S. will just get the other blood tests done when we go back for our appointment next month. But really, people, do you not know when your lab, which is right downstairs, is going to be closed? Annoying.

Oh yes, and our big Christmas gift to each other arrived today--a snowblower. How fun. The gutter off the side of our house also fell clear off the roof with all that ice. Oh the joys of being a homeowner!

Telling the Fam

Telling S.'s family about our pregnancy is going to be easy. We know they'll be supportive and excited. My family is a whole other story. I don't really talk to my father, due to the whole gay thing, and while the rest of my family is accepting, we don't really talk about 'us', as in me and S. as a unit, very much. We're just sort of there and that's that.

But of course when you're having a baby, you have to break that silence a little bit. So, yesterday, at my aunt's holiday party, I did. But first I went home to personally, and alone, tell my father about our baby.

It went better than expected.

Here's what I would have expected: screaming, swearing, praying, storming out of the house. Instead, I got: "OK. I don't know how I feel about that. I'll have to think about it." No screaming. No storming out of the house. And he still came to my aunt's party later on that day.

Progress? I'm not really sure. But he did hug me good-bye last night and, not that things were "normal," it just wasn't quite as awkward as I expected it to be. Weird. My grandmother seemed like she couldn't really give a crap, which is fine, as she is 94 and is sort of set in her ways. (I think maybe if I were the one pregnant, it would have been different.) I know she loves me and S. and that she'll love to have a new baby in the family once he or she arrives. The rest of the fam just seemed to "know"---or else I assumed they did, as people kept hugging us and telling us congratulations. So imagine my surprise at the end of the night when a bunch of my cousins still didn't know! (Thanks, cousin K. for keeping a good secret--love ya!) So, we got to tell them and I think they were happy for us and all that stuff so...it's done with. For now.

I was really dreading yesterday all week. It made me irritable and emotional, but when the actual day came, I felt fine. I didn't cry, puke, go to the bathroom, or any of my normal reactions to such a nerve-wracking situation. So, yay for us, yay for me, and yay for only telling people who will be genuinely excited from now on.

And S. is now at 11 weeks. By the time Christmas comes and goes, we'll be at week 12. Oh my!

gettting there...

Ummm...I did two crazy things this weekend. I bought a pair of maternity jeans and we bought six Bumgenius cloth diapers off of craigsl*st. Those are things pregnant women do...I think this is starting to sink in. 10 weeks down, 1/4 of the way. However, I am still feeling inordinately worried most of the time.

Welcome to the world, baby Jo!

And what a handsome one you are!

lucky girl

I will be 10 weeks at the end of this week. I alternate between saying, 'already?' and 'only?' Most of the people I work with know I am pregnant and I get a lot of "How are you feelings"? So, I thought I would address that. I'm at a point where I don't think I'll be jinxing myself.

I am feeling good. I'm one of those - one of the 25%. Not a minute of queasiness, never mind nausea and puking. I'm tired, but honestly, I tend to be a tired person who loves naps anyway. I have indigestion that's a bit worse than normal, but not everyday anymore. My boobs are huge, but they're not sore. No flames ladies! I know, I'm lucky in this respect. Finally...lucky. In the beginning I WANTED the symptoms, I wanted to know something was going on. And some days I still feel that way. My belly is hardening up and my pants are definitely tighter. It's hard to say if I'm growing, because, well, there was plenty there before we started. :)

Getting Clinical

We toured the Big Hospital today, the one our R.E. practice resides in. It was--a very big hospital! It felt more like a hospital than the other one we've looked at. The rooms were not as nice or spacious, it felt brighter and a big scrungier, and just had that overly-busy, rushed feeling. Not ideal for us for giving birth. Of course, the huge advantage is the NICU should S. indeed go into pre-term labor, or something else that we don't like thinking about. Going with Big Hospital means going with Big Midwife Practice, too, since they're in the same building and obviously deliver there.

It's a lot to think about, but I think we'll have our minds made up by tomorrow, when we interview the midwives from the other hospital. I have a good feeling about them--glowing reviews, a sort of local-celebrity midwife who basically started insemming lesbians in this area 20 years ago, and strong recommendations from local bloggers makes them sound very appealing. Hopefully they live up to all the hype so the decision is made for us.

Oh, and the weather outside here is frightful--S. had a snow day on Monday, but I had merely a delay. My commute was awful and slippery anyway, though!

Christmastime is Here...

I often have trouble getting into the holiday spirit, and S. always called me a Grinch, a Scrooge, a Bah Humbug, etc...but today we finally got a tree and decorated it. This is a pic from our vintage tree from last Christmas---we did it all up in colored lights and old-fashioned glass ball ornament (Shiny Brights). We decided to forgo the little tree this year and just do the biggun'. And it does look good if we do say so ourselves! Can't beat the smell of a real tree, even if it 1.) gets sticky 2.) sheds needles like crazy and 3.) is a pain in the ass to water. All for the sake of a good whiff of fresh pine..we decided to extend the joy our lit tree brings us, we're going to put it outside on our patio with the lights still on and enjoy it through the winter.

And speaking of winter..we may get our first snow day tomorrow!!!