Yesterday was a fun day. I bought a week's worth of outfits for our little girl. Well, I should say, I bought about seven pieces. I do realize that it's likely that she could go through all seven in one day. But it was fun. And it makes me smile to see them hanging in our little girl's closet. I know we'll get a ton of stuff by way of gifts and hand-me-downs, but I wanted her first fashion to come from me.
I'm also experiencing something new this week. Stares from strangers. I can see their mind processing the question, "is she pregnant or plump?" It makes me want a t-shirt that says something like, "not plump, baby bump." Before I found myself in this state, I always thought that shirts like that were just stating the obvious. Now I understand why pregnant women are attracted to them. I've also discovered the first of what I'm sure will be a series of stretch marks. Not on my belly, no, but on my already fabulously robust Finnish thighs. Those damn Scandinavian genes! Truly, though. I don't mind so much. It's sort of like a road map that shows how much I've grown. A reminder of where I've been and where I'm going. Nothing to get worked up about - maybe even something to be a wee bit proud of. Not that I'm going to prance around in Daisy Dukes or anything...
18 weeks and counting...
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Baby Bump
18 weeks, 2 days and counting...
Monday, July 5, 2010
Birth Plan
I've been trying to get my head around this concept of a birth plan. The websites I visit and books I read all say that now is the time to start thinking about my birth plan. Okay. Think, think, think.
What exactly is it? Well, in a nutshell, it's the debate over natural vs. drugs. Hospital vs. home. Doula vs. Doc.
Some of these questions I can answer very easily. Yes Hospital, no to the home birth (although, I do have some underlying anxiety that I'll go into labor during a massive Colorado snow storm and will be unable to get to the hospital). Other questions - like do I want an epidural - are a bit trickier. On one hand, pain relief seems like a good thought to me. On the other hand, the more I read about some of the pain relief options available - like the epidural - the more anxious I become. And then there are these "birthing methods". The Bradley Method. Lamaze. The Husband Coached Childbirth (that one gives me a ridiculous images of Scott in a referee jersey and a whistle). It's just kind of overwhelming. My thought has always been that I'm going to walk into that hospital pregnant and in labor, and a couple days later, we're leaving with a healthy baby. That's the plan. But the details inbetween are starting to get fuzzy and I feel like I need to be better about educating myself so I can make some informed decisions in the moment.
So, like any data oriented person, I turn to books. Off I go to Barnes & Noble thinking that there's got to be some bible of birth that will shed a little light on the subject for me. I just want a concise list of pros and cons and maybe some statistics thrown in (I like me some statistics). But I came up empty handed. If there is such a book out there, someone please tell me, because all I could find were rather editorialized tomes with blissed out pictures of hippies during childbirth and somewhat preachy authors advocating for natural, orgasmic births. What-ev-er. I mean seriously, some of this stuff was traumatizing. I do not see Scott and I naked in a field somewhere gazing at eachother as I push a watermelon out of my lady parts. Puhlease.
At a recent appointment, I spoke with my doctor about my data seeking conundrum. I think she was a bit surprised. She printed out some information on childbirth from for me, but wasn't anything I hadn't read already. My health provider is Kaiser, who I've been pretty darn happy with so far, and my doc did explain their philosophy on childbirth which sounded pretty good to me: episiotomies are no longer standard, they'll provide a whirlpool tub and birthing ball to help me find a comfortable position, they'll let me labor naturally, they'll let me walk around. Okay. That all sounds good. Then, she suggested I sign up for the birthing classes. (Yeah, check that, doc - already did. I'm a planner.) And that was really about it.
In the meantime, I've turned to women I know, trust and respect who have been wonderful about sharing their birth stories with me. Until recently, I hadn't spoken with anyone who passed on the epidural and I was beginning to wonder if they existed - like unicorns. But since, I've spoken with three of them - all with different points of view. And what was most comforting is knowing that they struggled with the same decision making process that I am. I've also spoken with other women who have had an epidural, loved it, and didn't feel "gipped" by their birth experiences (which is what a lot of those hippie books claim). Still others went in with a bullet-proof birth plan that had to be thrown out the window and ended up with a C-Section delivery and turns out, they weren't all that traumatized about it. With all that in mind, I'm feeling a bit calmer about the whole situation now and am beginning to think that my initial instinct on this birth plan thing was probably right on. I want to be present and involved during the whole process and to experience it all in the moment and ultimately, the goal is to walk out of that hospital with a healthy baby.
18 weeks, 5 days and counting...
What exactly is it? Well, in a nutshell, it's the debate over natural vs. drugs. Hospital vs. home. Doula vs. Doc.
Some of these questions I can answer very easily. Yes Hospital, no to the home birth (although, I do have some underlying anxiety that I'll go into labor during a massive Colorado snow storm and will be unable to get to the hospital). Other questions - like do I want an epidural - are a bit trickier. On one hand, pain relief seems like a good thought to me. On the other hand, the more I read about some of the pain relief options available - like the epidural - the more anxious I become. And then there are these "birthing methods". The Bradley Method. Lamaze. The Husband Coached Childbirth (that one gives me a ridiculous images of Scott in a referee jersey and a whistle). It's just kind of overwhelming. My thought has always been that I'm going to walk into that hospital pregnant and in labor, and a couple days later, we're leaving with a healthy baby. That's the plan. But the details inbetween are starting to get fuzzy and I feel like I need to be better about educating myself so I can make some informed decisions in the moment.
So, like any data oriented person, I turn to books. Off I go to Barnes & Noble thinking that there's got to be some bible of birth that will shed a little light on the subject for me. I just want a concise list of pros and cons and maybe some statistics thrown in (I like me some statistics). But I came up empty handed. If there is such a book out there, someone please tell me, because all I could find were rather editorialized tomes with blissed out pictures of hippies during childbirth and somewhat preachy authors advocating for natural, orgasmic births. What-ev-er. I mean seriously, some of this stuff was traumatizing. I do not see Scott and I naked in a field somewhere gazing at eachother as I push a watermelon out of my lady parts. Puhlease.
At a recent appointment, I spoke with my doctor about my data seeking conundrum. I think she was a bit surprised. She printed out some information on childbirth from for me, but wasn't anything I hadn't read already. My health provider is Kaiser, who I've been pretty darn happy with so far, and my doc did explain their philosophy on childbirth which sounded pretty good to me: episiotomies are no longer standard, they'll provide a whirlpool tub and birthing ball to help me find a comfortable position, they'll let me labor naturally, they'll let me walk around. Okay. That all sounds good. Then, she suggested I sign up for the birthing classes. (Yeah, check that, doc - already did. I'm a planner.) And that was really about it.
In the meantime, I've turned to women I know, trust and respect who have been wonderful about sharing their birth stories with me. Until recently, I hadn't spoken with anyone who passed on the epidural and I was beginning to wonder if they existed - like unicorns. But since, I've spoken with three of them - all with different points of view. And what was most comforting is knowing that they struggled with the same decision making process that I am. I've also spoken with other women who have had an epidural, loved it, and didn't feel "gipped" by their birth experiences (which is what a lot of those hippie books claim). Still others went in with a bullet-proof birth plan that had to be thrown out the window and ended up with a C-Section delivery and turns out, they weren't all that traumatized about it. With all that in mind, I'm feeling a bit calmer about the whole situation now and am beginning to think that my initial instinct on this birth plan thing was probably right on. I want to be present and involved during the whole process and to experience it all in the moment and ultimately, the goal is to walk out of that hospital with a healthy baby.
18 weeks, 5 days and counting...
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Dog Days of Summer
I think I'm just beginning to understand why people say that pregnancy in summer should be avoided, if possible. Granted, I'm not ginormous and pregnant with twins like someone I work with this summer, but I'm still feeling a little sorry for myself over the following complaints:
1. It's hot. Fortunately, we moved to Colorado, and I'm embracing the dry heat and ever so thankful that I'm not in the DC humidity and mugginess. But it's still hot. And I get sweaty. And then tired. And thirsty. And I eat too much ice cream. And I can't sleep without a fan blowing directly on me.
2. I'm swelling. I swear, my feet grow a full size throughout the day. And I think it's mostly because I'm hot. Last night I had a work event that required a lot of walking and standing around, mostly outdoors. Even though I wore the most comfortable sandals I own that aren't flip-flops and still matched my dress (sort of), I find myself nursing 6 blisters today and propping my feet up because already, early afternoon, they are starting to swell. Again. Blech.
3. I'm itchy. Swelling + heat + stretching skin makes one itchy. And it isn't very pleasant.
4. I'm cranky. With the hot-ness, swelling and itchiness, it's understandable that a little irritability comes into play. Okay, maybe a lot of irritability. Maybe I'm a hot mess some days. Deal with it.
But thankfully, I have a really sweet husband who sends me text messages to check in on me, finds me obscure musical downloads, makes chili dogs, and is getting better about walking so damn fast in stores. He helps me take it down a notch. I hope I don't break him.
19 weeks and counting...
1. It's hot. Fortunately, we moved to Colorado, and I'm embracing the dry heat and ever so thankful that I'm not in the DC humidity and mugginess. But it's still hot. And I get sweaty. And then tired. And thirsty. And I eat too much ice cream. And I can't sleep without a fan blowing directly on me.
2. I'm swelling. I swear, my feet grow a full size throughout the day. And I think it's mostly because I'm hot. Last night I had a work event that required a lot of walking and standing around, mostly outdoors. Even though I wore the most comfortable sandals I own that aren't flip-flops and still matched my dress (sort of), I find myself nursing 6 blisters today and propping my feet up because already, early afternoon, they are starting to swell. Again. Blech.
3. I'm itchy. Swelling + heat + stretching skin makes one itchy. And it isn't very pleasant.
4. I'm cranky. With the hot-ness, swelling and itchiness, it's understandable that a little irritability comes into play. Okay, maybe a lot of irritability. Maybe I'm a hot mess some days. Deal with it.
But thankfully, I have a really sweet husband who sends me text messages to check in on me, finds me obscure musical downloads, makes chili dogs, and is getting better about walking so damn fast in stores. He helps me take it down a notch. I hope I don't break him.
19 weeks and counting...
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Holy Cantaloupe! or 20 Weeks!
Today, I am 20 weeks along - officially halfway! Whee! Yay!
Every week, I get a few different e-mails from different pregnancy websites that tell me a bit about what's going on with the baby and the pregnancy with each weekly milestone. They've been a great resource and a fun read for me. I love to recite the highlights to Scott on Saturday morning over breakfast. Usually the e-mails tell us what's developing in our baby (this week - taste buds!), and how I'm probably feeling (hormonal!), and the size of the baby in comparison to food. We started with a grain of rice, went up to a peanut, then a blueberry, then a grape, olive, apricot, peach, etc. As we work our way around the produce department, I marvel at how quickly it all happens. I also often wonder if we're talking about locally grown organic produce here, or that standard grocery store mass produced stuff, because the former is often smaller (and tastier) than the latter. But I digress...
I think today's growth statement is one of the most impressive so far. Baby-girl is now the size of a cantaloupe. Maybe it's just me, but doesn't that sound rather large? I mean, a peach was cute, a naval orange was large-ish, but holy shit! We've graduated to the melons!? Bah! I shared this news with Scott with what I'm sure was a horrified look on my face and he calmly replied, "just wait until she's a watermelon."
GAH!
20 weeks (that's right!) 20 weeks and counting...
Every week, I get a few different e-mails from different pregnancy websites that tell me a bit about what's going on with the baby and the pregnancy with each weekly milestone. They've been a great resource and a fun read for me. I love to recite the highlights to Scott on Saturday morning over breakfast. Usually the e-mails tell us what's developing in our baby (this week - taste buds!), and how I'm probably feeling (hormonal!), and the size of the baby in comparison to food. We started with a grain of rice, went up to a peanut, then a blueberry, then a grape, olive, apricot, peach, etc. As we work our way around the produce department, I marvel at how quickly it all happens. I also often wonder if we're talking about locally grown organic produce here, or that standard grocery store mass produced stuff, because the former is often smaller (and tastier) than the latter. But I digress...
GAH!
20 weeks (that's right!) 20 weeks and counting...
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Monday, June 21, 2010
19 Weeks!
Our little girl is an active one. She particularly enjoys meal time. Who doesn't?! At 19 weeks along and some change, I am definitely excited to make it to that 20-week, we're half-way there, it's all down hill from here milestone.
Except for maybe that "it's all downhill from here" part. I do realize that we're in this for the long haul. 18+ years long haul. I have definitely had a few "oh shit" moments this week. Now that we know she's a girl and we're thinking of baby names (which will not be revealed until she's entered the world - sorry to disappoint!), we have entered into a new reality. There's no turning back. This baby is a comin'!
Holy crap.
20 weeks, 4 days and counting...
Except for maybe that "it's all downhill from here" part. I do realize that we're in this for the long haul. 18+ years long haul. I have definitely had a few "oh shit" moments this week. Now that we know she's a girl and we're thinking of baby names (which will not be revealed until she's entered the world - sorry to disappoint!), we have entered into a new reality. There's no turning back. This baby is a comin'!
Holy crap.
20 weeks, 4 days and counting...
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