Not Dead, Just Sick

It's been a busy couple of weeks around here. I had my family shower which was a big success. I think we now own everything pink or red that Baby Gap and Carters has ever made. We also have a great library going, even including some chapter books for when she gets older.

Since the shower I was working long hours and then went to Miami for work. I got home from Miami and within 24 hours was in bed. I've been in bed or on the couch ever since, except for a trip to the doctor to get some drugs. The only thing I've managed to do since then is accept delivery of the crib and dresser and set up the baby blog. I decided to start a different blog for the baby because I thought that would make the most sense. I will still post here occasionally, but all baby related info will now be found at www.mattandaliciafamily.blogspot.com. I had wanted babywithattitude.blogspot.com, but was told that might not be the best idea.

Happy New Year!

And happy third trimester! Actually I started the third trimester right before Christmas, but close enough. Things are going along very well. I've started at the doctor's every two weeks, we've started child birth classes, and the baby has officially kicked Teddy in the head while curling up on my stomach. Teddy didn't seem fazed by it.

Teddy tangent - we bought a baby doll and started carrying it around the house and having it lay on our bed and the couch so Teddy can get used to it. The first time we brought out the baby she just wanted to sniff it. Then we put the baby on the couch and Teddy wasn't allowed to lay on the baby. Teddy got a little ticked off, started pouting and then went upstairs. We went up later and Teddy had gone to the bathroom on the couch to show us how unhappy she was. Lovely. Since then she's been good with the baby and is beginning to understand that the baby is not a headrest.

It's getting really busy and I've started to realize that we don't have that much more time till the baby comes. Matt's traveling a bunch this month, I have a trip to Miami, and we have family coming into town this weekend for a family baby shower. I'm excited to see all the family because the last time I saw most of them I was just beginning to show. Now I look like I swallowed a watermelon.

Upcoming Cooking Plans

With all the snow this weekend I've been able to finalize our holiday menus. Christmas Eve is going to be our standard - Clam Chowder and Fajitas. For Christmas I've decided to make Ham in Coca Cola. I've wanted to make it for awhile and this seems like the perfect opportunity. I'm also seriously considering making this Hot Chocolate Layer Cake with Homemade Marshmallows. Because when else you have that much sugar in one meal??

Snow Storm 2009

We've got a serious snow storm going on right now. You can't see the basement window and the snow is up to the second step.

Teddy is not sure about snow up to her shoulders.

Measuring 18 inches at 3:30pm with another 8 hours of snow forecast.

Teddy enjoyed the snow when we took her to the nearby football field early this morning and let her run around. Now that it's still coming down I don't think she's a fan.

The local news is classic right now. The weather guy has been on since 6 am and is still really excited about the storm. The anchor seems drunk and Matt's betting they pull her soon because she's a little out of control.

Update

Tomorrow is going to be the biggest snow storm in years. I plan on not leaving the house, but if I have to maybe I should get one of these and wear Teddy around my belly to keep it warm. Stupid coat not making it one more week!

Signs of things to come

As of this morning I can no longer fit into my non-maternity coats. Thankfully my mother bought me a pretty coat while I was in CA, but I have my fingers crossed that it will get me through the East Coast winter. Next week starts the beginning of the third trimester (which is an additional freakout) so I figure by the end of January I will not longer be able to wear any of the regular clothes I had been making work as maternity clothes.

I've also started wearing long earrings every day. I figure I'll have to put them all away for about 5 years in a few months so I might get some use out of them before I put them away.

Classy Is My Middle Name

Yesterday I had my glucose screening test. For those who haven't had to do it, you drink a nasty sugary drink and an hour later the doctor draws your blood to see if you have gestational diabetes. The drink made me a little nauseous, but nothing too bad. I had been allowed to eat breakfast (with a limited amount of sugar) to help counteract the drink. With about five minutes to go till the blood draw the doctor walked in and we started talking about how everything was going. With two minutes till the blood draw I started to feel very lightheaded and started sweating. The doctor had me lie down so she could listen to the heartbeat and measure my stomach. Lying down I started to get even more lightheaded and came the closest to passing out that I've been in a long time. Of course that's when the nurse came in to draw my blood. So, I'm lying there trying to keep conscious, my dress is pulled up so the doctor can have access to my stomach, and the nurse has my arm to take blood. It was quite a scene and maybe one of my classier moments. After some water, hard candy, and about 15 minutes I was feeling better and allowed to go clean myself up and leave. I looked like an extra from a horror movie. My makeup was running all over my face because I'd sweated so much and my hair was sticking up in 8 different directions. It was lovely. The baby did very well and waited until I was fully recovered before beginning her morning tap dance on my bladder. She's considerate like that.

I figure that I either passed with flying colors or failed spectacularly. With that kind of reaction I don't think there's a middle ground.

Update - I just got the blood test results back and I passed! Yeah!! Because I think the three hour test might have been more than I could handle.

Favorites

Our baby girl has started to develop certain habits that I am not fond of. She likes her space and is not afraid to kick me to make me move so I am in a better position for her. It doesn't seem to matter that I have to sit like that to work on my computer at work. No, our little princess would like her space NOW. If I don't sit back she will start kicking my bladder so I have to get up and walk around. She also thinks peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are the greatest thing ever and gets very active every time I eat one.

Everything else is going well. We are making progress on cleaning out the room that will be the nursery. After the fifth bag of books that we're getting rid of, we've decided that we really should use library cards more often.

Over the past week I've started to see a change in Teddy. I think she knows what's coming, but there's no way to know. She's started to curl up next to me and put her head on my stomach with her ear leaning against it like she's trying to listen. I wonder if she can hear the baby moving. She does seem to be enjoying the stories we read to the baby.

Nesting Instinct

I knew it was coming, but I was really unprepared for it. The past two weeks the nesting instinct has fully kicked in. I think that might be a misnomer. I think "Nesting Psychosis" is a more appropriate term. There have been trips to Ikea, The Container Store, and Target. There's been much sorting and getting rid of unneeded items. I will also confirm that the words "We can't bring a baby into the house with such a large pile of ironing still needing to be done" passed my lips. Thankfully Matt still finds it amusing. Which is good because today he needs to dust, vacuum, fold the laundry, rake the leaves, mow and reseed the lawn, and get rid of the bags of stuff that I purged this weekend. Tomorrow there's another list for him. Enjoy your vacation honey!

We're halfway there

Monday I hit the halfway mark and yesterday we went in for an ultrasound. Our baby girl is looking good. All parts are accounted for and in the right place. We even got a couple of waves during the ultrasound.

I've been feeling her move pretty regularly. I think it feels kind of like when your heart beat is racing and you can feel your blood pumping, but not quite as rhythmic. Then Friday night during dinner I got my first big kick. I looked down and stared at my stomach for a couple of seconds because I couldn't figure out what had happened. Then I couldn't stop smiling because I was so excited.

Matt and I have also started reading to the baby. We generally read children's books, but Matt is reading selected Sports Guy columns to her. I vetoed Roberts Rules of Order. If anyone has suggestions for good books I'd love to hear them. Here's what the baby library currently has.
-Corduroy
-Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel
-Madeline
-Eloise (my goal in life for many years was to be her)
-A couple of Dr. Seuss books
-Baby's first Stanford text-board book (a gift from my dad - because it's never to early to start the pressure to be the 5th generation to go)
-Hippos Go Berserk (bought solely for the title)
-The Runaway Bunny

Latest Baby Purchase

Because brainwashing can't begin early enough.

Because The First Lady Is All Sorts of Awesome

During an interview when someone asked her how to catch a great guy like she did. This is part of her answer.
"Look at how the guy treats his mother, what he says about women, how he acts with children he doesn't know. And more importantly how does he treat you? When you're dating a man, you should always feel good...you should never feel less than...you should never doubt yourself, you shouldn't be in a relationship with someone who doesn't make you completely happy or make you feel whole. And if you're in (such a) relationship, don't get married, and find that person who brings you complete and utter joy."
God I love that woman. I hope some day to be that smart.

Not the swine flu

After getting fully vaccinated last week, yesterday I came down with something. After conferring with the doctor this morning it looks like it's just a cold. There's no fever, so they don't think it's the flu (either kind) but if I do come down with a fever they will be getting me a prescription. For the next few days it's rest and lots of fluids for me. I have been around people who had been exposed to swine flu, but the time between when I saw them and when I started to feel nasty wasn't enough time for me to get sick. The doctor said that I might be having a reaction to the shot, but not to worry. So everyone, don't worry. Mom and Gloria I'm looking at you specifically.

The Madness of Infertility

I think this is an amazing essay that so accurately describes what it's like to be infertile. The author explains how she's jealous of a panda bear who manged to get pregnant while she and her husband still struggle. It's the best example I've seen of how you can be jealous of ANY pregnant being, even one trapped in a zoo. I also like that the author is in her 20's. So much is written about infertile women in their 30's and 40's that the younger ones tend to get forgotten. One of the final straws with the first doctor we saw was when he told me "You're still young and have plenty of time" during a visit. I later realized that it was the third January in a row we'd had an appointment with him. Just because I have time doesn't mean that I haven't already spent too much time dealing with stupid heads. (For the record the time between first appointment and positive pregnancy test with the new doctor? 4 months.)

And the answer is...

It's a girl. We also got the test results back from the ultrasound and blood work a couple of weeks ago and everything looks good. I also had my cervix checked and everything looked great. My mother spent at least 2 months on bed rest with each of her children due to an incompetent cervix (three months hospitalized with her hips above her heart and unable to get out of bed with the last one) so I was very paranoid about my cervix. I might have high fived Matt about because I'm not like my mother. But it was done with love and appreciation for the time she spent in bed with me and my brothers.

We are super excited and can't wait to meet our little girl. Based on what we've seen in the ultrasounds so far she's definitely energetic and has problems sitting still. The technician today had trouble getting a recording of her heartbeat for more than 3 seconds before she moved again. Only time will tell if she's really the OCD/ADD combo that we're expecting.

Last Chance to Guess - Hopefully

Tomorrow we go in for another ultrasound, and hopefully are able to find out the sex of the baby. I do know someone who had a baby that never cooperated and they had to wait till the baby was born. I'm praying that baby doesn't have a twisted sense of humor, but I'm not holding my breath.

Last week I spent a couple of days with my family in the Bay Area and then a couple of days working in San Francisco. It was good to see everyone, even if the weather was worse than El Nino. I also managed to get out of my dad's house with none of the reserved baby clothes from the basement. If I wanted to I could dress the baby from birth to 12 with nothing but the clothes in the basement, so this was an epic feat. Roughly the equivalent of climbing Everest.

For the most part I'm feeling better. I'm still exhausted and going to bed early, but everything else seems to have calmed down.

Not so much with the talking

I was aware of baby brain as a concept, but I thought it was something along the lines of being forgetful. Apparently I am suffering from a version which makes it impossible to use the right words. It's not gibberish, just clearly not the right word. Recent examples include...
"Putting all your birds in one basket"
"I need to clean the dog poop off my car" (I meant bird poop)
"Have we ordered the signage for the blow"
"Furbulous" (ok, maybe that one ventures towards gibberish)
I've also developed a habit of being completely unable to type my own name. Awesome.

I think part of it is baby brain and part is just being overwhelmed. Last week my company decided to reorganize. Not unexpected, just really poor timing. This meant my boss was laid off, effectively immediately, and I am taking over his responsibilities. I don't get to hand any of mine off to anyone else, I just add his. I'm trying not to panic, but I've never missed tequila as much as I have in the past week.

Our little elf

The top one is WAY zoomed in so you can see the profile. My mom thinks it looks like Matt, but I think that's just because it has hair. And it totally looks like a little elf.

Babies On The Brain

Today our interim president at work became the proud daddy to a new baby girl named Emma. He hand his partner used a surrogate and she lives in San Diego, so he's out there for the birth. San Diego's an excellent city to be born in, if I do say so myself. Contrary to popular belief it does not make you an instant surfer.

I am doing well as I'm about to enter my last week of the first trimester. Most of the nausea has passed, but this week I did learn the hard way that I shouldn't take the trash out anymore. Teddy was kind enough to get out of the way before I threw up on her.

This weekend I'm planning my first trip to the baby store to start figuring out what we need. Any recommendations that people have for baby gear I would appreciate. Matt's keeping a spreadsheet of all recommendations (along with a spreadsheet of baby-related spreadsheets) because he's way more organized than I am. Next week I have my next appointment and ultrasound so we get to see how big the baby's gotten. Last time it looked like a gummy bear, so we'll see what it looks like now.

A Little Concerned

After spending some time in traffic over the past week, I'm becoming concerned that the baby's first phrase is going to be "Why are you such a douche bag?"

Random aside - I once used the phrase "douche bag" while driving with my youngest sister, who was about 12 at the time. She asked what it meant, so I told her. And then, because I am my mother's daughter, I ended it with this comment. "Some people think that douching after having sex will prevent pregnancy, but that's not true." She asked to change the subject.

We had the first appointment with the OB this week. I've been seeing him for about 5 years, and he performed some surgery on me last year and then the D&C after the miscarriage, and he kept telling us how happy he was for us. Stuff like that are the reason I keep going back to him. We were talking about epidurals and he asked if I was going to want one. I asked if I could have two. He said "Good. I don't understand people who want natural childbirth. It's like having a natural root canal." Also why I love him.