Sunday, January 27, 2013

33 Weeks

This week had a lot of downs and ups.

The week started with Adam's grandmother's funeral, which was sad, but understandable since she was 96. Then I get back to work and find out that my coworker's mom died unexpectantly (heart-attack or stroke). And then, the hardest part of all, was finding out that my friend Erin's college roommate Anna died tragically when she had a seizure while taking a bath. I was never really close to Anna, but I hung out with her a lot in college and after. She was hilarious, always a good time, so fun, and so generous. Several times, she let me borrow her [beautiful] heels to go out in, which I thought was the nicest thing ever.

With all those sad things this week, we were relieved on Friday morning during our second anatomy scan to find out we have a healthy baby! More details (and pictures) from the 2nd scan here.

This week also had the accomplishment of checking several things off our "baby prep" list:

  • Pediatrician - check! I searched our insurance website for pediatricians close to our house, setup interview appointments, and found one we LOVED - lots of parking, new facility, evening / weekend hours, same-day sick visits, a receptionist who picks up a phone (no automated machine - "press 0 if you'd like to go Office-Space-crazy on this machine"), the doctor we met with (see a list of recommended questions/observations here and here), AND the rave review from another woman in my aqua-aerobics class (another reason to be in preggo classes- recommendations!).
  • Pre-register at the hospital - check!
  • Pre-register with anesthesiologist at hospital (in case of epidural/c-section/etc) - check!
  • Buy paper products for post-birth - check! This was a suggestion online to stock up on paper products so you don't have to worry about doing dishes, etc. Yes, we have a dishwasher, but that requires loading, running, emptying... I know, I know, that sounds SOOOO time-consuming, but oddly enough, getting Adam to do those 3 steps is as difficult as getting him to vacuum. So I figure, save those 3 steps and get paper products for the first few weeks.

We had our last birthing class this week. I highly recommend that any first-time mom takes a birthing class from their hospital (or, any woman who hasn't given birth in a long time - one woman in our class gave birth over a decade ago and was shocked at how much changed!). It's not all yoga breathing exercises like in the movies; it's logistics, procedures, explanations and - my favorite - details about what your hospital does or does not do/allow (i.e.: our hospital does not let you leave without a pediatrician). Obviously, not having gone through birth yet, I don't know how much I'll retain, but the classes helped ease my nerves for the upcoming experience. Some people, like my sister-in-law, said she didn't want a birth class because she didn't want to set expectations; I totally get that, and so birthing classes may not be for everyone, but my super-planner personality loved it.

Also, on a really random note, I have to mention this crazy vivid dream I had. Normally, I do not dream about the baby, which seems odd, but I also never dreamt about my wedding prior to it like many women do (I had nightmares AFTER the wedding - how random?). Well, this week I had a very vivid dream about him. In my dream, I gave birth and then went into a very deep coma and didn't wake up for 6 months. When I woke up, I was upset that I missed the first 6 months of my baby's life and was crying and crying and the baby was smiling because he finally got to meet his mommy. So weird.

Baby size: From our 2nd anatomy scan, Baby Cole officially weighs 4.14 lbs. The websites say this is the size of a Durian Fruit. I actually googled this one, and it looks both unappetizing and frightening.

It's a... BOY! (and we have the wiener picture to prove it!)

Total weight gain: 26-27 lbs, which is a total guess because I forgot to weigh myself either morning this weekend, so I'm assuming I've gained a pound or two max from last week.

Maternity Clothes: Still fitting! (for now). I've switched to a lot of short-sleeve shirts (from my sister-in-law's summer pregnancy), not due to weather (still mid/low 20s), but my internal heat as been turned up and I boil very quickly now.

Sleep: Off and on. Best nights this week (Sun/Mon/Fri), I woke up 3-4 times to pee/rearrange and fell right back to sleep (glorious!). Other nights (Tues/Wed/Thurs/Sat), I took forever to get to sleep, woke up for hours in the middle of the night, etc. Ugh.

Cravings: Juice/water

Anything make me sick? Nada

Pregnancy Symptoms of the Week: (Warning: tmi ahead! Not for the easily embarrassed!) A lot of pelvic/vagina pain, ranging from sharp stabbing pains (thanks to the baby pinching my nerves) to dull achy pain. For the dull ache, it's not like a PMS ache, but instead it feels like you just had really rough sex, which would be GREAT if you actually did, but rough-sex-pain without said rough sex is just annoying. I read that women can start dialating as early as 32 weeks, so I'm pretending that I'm just dialating early. The doctor hasn't done any internal exams yet (that starts later), so until the doctor tells me I haven't dialated, I'm going to pretend that the vagina pain is me dialating and it's all in preparation to have the baby (because, let's face it, productive pain is a lot easier to handle than annoying pain). So there!

What I miss: Sleep, my normal clothes, and NOT feeling like a gigantic heffer

Movement: Little sporadic kicks/bumps have been replaced with rolling - and CONSTANT rolling. This is the ONE part of pregnancy that has gotten better with time - I love feeling his little body roll around in there and watching his movements on my belly. It feels more and more real every time. Occasionally, he'll kick at something he's not supposed to (like my bladder), but generally he's well-behaved. :)

Embarrassing Cry of the Week: When I couldn't put air in my tires. It was so cold out and my big belly kept getting in the way, and in my efforts, I ended up letting out more air than I put in. I went home, cried like the world was ending, and Adam took me back out to fill up my tires. Adam kept asking: "Is something else wrong?" because, clearly, the inability to put air in my tires was not a valid 30-minute sob session.

General Mood: As long as I have things to accomplish (nursery completion, baby gear buying, hospital bag packing, etc), I feel positive. It's getting VERY uncomfortable (and I have had a few episodes of whining to Adam that "I'm sick of being this big!"), but until my to-do list is done (or until I hit the magical 37-weeks "full term"), I won't feel REALLY ready. I fear the day when that to-do list is done and all I have to do is WAIT.

Excited for: Nothing major happening this week. Continuing to get through the to-do list more and more. :)

Friday, January 25, 2013

2nd Anatomy Scan

At 20 weeks, we had our first full anatomy scan to measure everything possible on the baby (see post here).

This 2nd scan was the follow-up to check the fluid levels in his kidneys. And we are proud to report we have a HEALTHY BABY! No follow-up needed! The doctor had told us there was a 98% chance that when they re-measure the kidney fluid, it would be normal (since the baby is swimming in fluid, the measurements tend to go up and down), so now that it's good at 32 weeks, we can feel confident that we have a healthy baby.

While doing the scan, the stenographer did a few other measurements.

Baby Weight: 4.14 lbs, which is average and therefore means the baby could continue to fluctuate "big" or "small" before birth. Stenographer explained that if the baby measures big or small at 32 weeks, they can usually guess he will be big/small at birth, but if he measures "normal" at 32 weeks, then there's still time for him to go all over the place. :)

Baby Cole is also VERRRYYY stubborn and refused to move his hand from his face for her to take measurements. So here's the photo of the baby's face with his hand in front of it:

And lastly, my favorite photo, the second confirmation that it's a boy. The white column is his penis and the sack to the left is his balls.

I texted this photo to Adam's phone and a few others, calling the text Baby Cole's first "Brett Favre" incident (aka: his first "sleazy text"). Hehehe.

Healthy baby = Happy mama!

Saturday, January 19, 2013

32 Weeks and Baby Shower!


This weekend was my [our] baby shower and it was fantastic. I had a great time seeing all my friends, my family, and... finally announcing that we are having a BOY!!! We announced it by letting my mom (future "grandma") and Adam's mom ("mom mom") open a box with 3 balloons (NOT symbolizing triplets, lol).




And then the "prize" for guessing the right gender was a delicious oreo cake pop, decorated for a baby and pacifier with a blue bonnet!



It was extra special for me to have all 3 of my grandmothers there at the shower - 2 drove down from NY and 1 flew up from Florida. I am reminded once again how lucky I am to have all 3 grandmothers still alive, especially so after this week we had the sad news that Adam's grandmother - his last remaining grandparent - died in her sleep on Thursday at 96. So, I was extra thankful that I could have all three grandmothers at my shower.

This is me shrinking down because, with my heels on, I'm about 4.5 inches taller than my grandmothers, who have shrunk over time, as well.


Baby size: Regular Squash (not to be confused with butternut squash at Week 34 or acorn squash at Week 29...). Another website said the baby was as large as a 'jicama' - but I have no idea what that is.

It's a... BOY!

Total weight gain: 25 lbs. I have completely given up on figuring out weight. I gain, I lose, I gain again. At this point, I'm eating healthy and that's what matters from here on out. I indulge my cravings when I want, and stop when I'm full. At this point, that's the best I can do.

Maternity Clothes: This week I finally pulled out the maternity short-sleeve shirts that I borrowed from my sister-in-law (a summer pregnancy). The office has gotten SO HOT during the winter months, that I absolutely cannot stand to be in long-sleeves anymore. And it's not just me and my crazy preggo hormones, others agree that the office is overheated.

Sleep: I have good nights and bad nights. Good nights I may wake up 3-4 times to switch positions and pee. Bad nights I may be up every hour. The peeing isn't too bad (I can stumble to the bathroom and back like a pro), but it's the switching positions and rearranging all 5 pillows that is really a pain. I've found I sleep the best when the room is FREEZING (windows open/fan on), which makes me so glad - once again - that I am pregnant in the winter!

Cravings: Dark chocolate

Anything make me sick? Nada

Pregnancy Symptoms of the Week: Sensitive teeth/gums. I pride myself on having very good dental hygenie, but at the dentist this week, my gums bled like crazy and my teeth were uber-sensitive all day (like only-ice-cream-and-soup-diet-kind-of-sensitive). Once again, this is a "common while pregnant due to increased blood flow" but wow-za does it hurt! First time ever that my dentist appointment was worse than my Brazilian wax!

What I miss: A good night's sleep. I think I'm going to miss this for the next year.

Movement: Baby Cole generally sleeps all day and kicks all night. All medical advisorsies stress paying attention to baby movement because if there is a decrease, something could be wrong. One night, I realized he hadn't started moving again after his day of sleep, so I kind of poked and proded him until he woke up. Then he went CRAZY, so much so that I could barely get to sleep. Serves me right for waking him up!

Embarrassing Cry of the Week: Nada yet.

General Mood: Happy/excited. All week was anticipating the baby shower, and now with the baby shower over, I am so excited to continue the projects I'd put on hold (finalizing the nursery, buying baby supplies, etc) until after.

Excited Nervous for: We have our 32-week Kidney Checkup appointment this week. This is the follow-up to our Anatomy scan (see details here) where they noticed abnormal fluid levels in the kidney. I'm VERY stressed about this appointment. I know in the beginning I said I was relieved that it wasn't brain or heart, but I still am nervous because I want my baby totally healthy, and home with me - not back in the hospital for corrective surgery. :( And worse (crazy mommy brain on overdrive) what if they find something else?! I mean, better to find out early, but still...

Sunday, January 13, 2013

31 Weeks


I don't think I look a lot different in pictures, but apparently it's noticable because many people at work are commenting now. I love the ladies who've had babies already, because they take extra care to tell me [repeatedly] how good I look. I don't even care if they are lying; it feels good to have someone say "you look great!" when you are 25+ lbs. They must remember what it feels like to be a gigantic heffer.

We went to our first birthing class this week (1st of 3), with topics: labor at home (1st class), labor and delivery at hospital (2nd class), and c-sections/postpartum (3rd class). They had planned a maternity ward tour, but it was a crazy night there, so we have to wait for the 2nd or 3rd class. They did a few practice breathing exercises and relaxation techniques. Adam/I played along, but I warned him after that when I do go into labor, I'll probably revert to my yoga breath, which I call the "Darth Vader" breathing.

Also a first this week was my aqua-aerobics ("old lady splashing class"). There were 3 of us pregnant people,and then 10 non-pregnant-but-surprisingly-not-very-old other women. The class was great - being in water is AMAZING pregnant! Funniest part was, when we climbed out of the pool, I felt like I gained 400 lbs - like someone had just set weights on my shoulders. The two other pregnant girls experienced the same phenonmenon and the others looked at us like we were crazy. It must have something to do with the weightless-ness of the pool and the extra water-logged pounds of the baby you experience with gravity. Weird.

Lastly, went to my 30 week appointment with the OBGYN. Good news: the baby is head-down! Now, of course, there IS room for the baby to flip up again but the OB said that once the baby is head-down, they *tend* to stay down (for the most part). This would be such a relief if the baby stayed this way, because it's one less reason to get a c-section.

Baby size: Pineapple

Total weight gain: 23.5 lbs. Lost a few lbs early in the week and then started to gain some of it back later in the week, but still a net -1 for the week. I'm not concerned because it's apparently common in the last trimester to lose some.

Countdown to the Gender Reveal: 1 week. We're definitely never doing a gender-reveal again. I don't mind people guessing or making fun speculations, but it's the people (not naming names) that get OBSESSED with figuring it out. Most certainly when we "reveal," I expect someone to be like: "I knew it all along. I am so good." No shit, buddy, you had two options - boy or girl. It's a 50/50. If you were in Vegas, you should be playing that damn game all day long. Now, if you properly guess the baby's name, THEN I'll give you some significant credit, because that's like lottery-winning odds. But if you deciphered the sex of the baby off of over-analyzing clues, then I'm not impressed; you had a 50/50 shot, get over it.

Maternity Clothes: Aside from my yoga pants and a few select old t-shirts, I'm 100% maternity. A few of my favorite preggo shirts are getting a little snug around the belly. Blegh.

Sleep: Still off and on, but this week was much better than last week. I think it's getting off the couch and back into yoga/exercise.

Cravings: Juice

Anything make me sick? Back to work means back to the chemical fumes wafting from the kitchenette when they mop the floors; I'm back again to shutting my office door every day around 2pm when they clean.

Pregnancy Symptoms of the Week: Starting to get a few aches and pains in my pelvic region again. OBGYN said it's normal as my "bones start to seperate to prepare for birth" - that phrase sounds oddly intimidating to me, lol.

What I miss: A solid night's sleep. I know it's only going to get worse from here out, and then once the baby is here, there will be NO sleep. So I think I just kissed my last good night's sleep goodbye for the next year.

Movement: Now that we know the baby is head-down, our perceived anatomy of the baby has changed. What we previously thought was the head is most definitely the butt / legs. The baby's head is actually WAY down and very difficult to find - as in, it's way under my belly ("Good! Stay there! That's how you come out!"). So all those times I thought the baby was sticking his/her head out to say hello, apparently was just the butt. The baby LOVES to stick out it's butt on the right side at the very top of my belly.

Embarrassing Cry of the Week: tear-free week! :)

General Mood: Overall, a good week. 'Felt good to get back into a routine again after the holidays, very fun starting birthing and aqua aerobics class, and enjoyed spending time with Adam before his law school class schedule gets crazy again.

Excited for: Baby shower next weekend! Minus said rant about above the gender-reveal part, I've very excited! Contrary to Adam, whose least favorite thing about the holidays is opening gifts, I LOVE opening presents. I am excited to get all the cool things from our registry (and bring them home to organize = my OCD personality's favorite activity), but also to see what all the "experienced moms" give me that I would never think of.

Sunday, January 6, 2013

30 Weeks


This week's milestone: getting sick for the first time while pregnant. You know how men (or, specifically, my husband) think the world is ending when they are sick? Well, pregnant women do too. It is TERRIBLE - 10x worse than non-preggo sickness. Everything is magnified. I spiked a fever, had severe aches/pains, and puked (for the 3rd time all pregnancy). Literally, I wanted to die.

And to make it worse, I got sick on my first day back at work after 12 days off (go figure). Being the back-up controller and having to close a plant (or else HQ in Paris would freak out), I had to suffer through the entire workday feeling like hell. I managed one 45 min nap during the day - ON THE FLOOR. I shut my office door, turned off the lights, laid out my lap blanket, used my coat for a pillow, and fell fast asleep for 45 minutes. I finally went home at 4pm (when I literally couldn't sit upright in my desk chair anymore), and crashed on the couch, then woke up and continued working 10pm-midnight.

At the doctor's instruction, I took tylenol to maintain the fever below 101, and it finally broke around 3am. Adam did a great job taking care of me (making soup, fetching blankets, taking temperature), but then he got sick. And trust me, in typical male fashion, he milked it WAY MORE than I did.

Baby size: Length of a cucumber

Total weight gain: 24.5 lbs.

Countdown to the Gender Reveal: 2 weeks!

Maternity Clothes: I got myself a maternity tankini this weekend, for my aqua aerobics class this week. I wanted something cheap because it's just going to fade with the chlorine in the pool, but I was worried if the summer clothes were out yet. I was joking with the other pregnant woman in yoga class that if I couldn't find anything, I was going to show up in a string bikini... and I'm kind of throwing up in my mouth right now thinking of this massive belly with my pregnant ass /thighs in a string bikini. Can you say "beached whale"? But crisis is averted and I am safe in a [full-coverage] maternity tankini.

Sleep: Not the best week. Even post-sickness, I'm starting to get really uncomfortable in the middle of the night - changing positions at least 5-6 times. I've never had back pain before, but suddenly I'll wake up with searing pain in my back. One woman at work said she slept in a recliner for the last month of pregnancy - not a bad idea!

Cravings: Liquids. After I eat anything, I want a drink - apple cider, milk, juice, water, whatever.

Anything make me sick? Besides BEING sick? Nada

Pregnancy Symptoms of the Week: Tingly feet early in the week. Per google, pregnant women can get a tingly sensation in their feet in the evenings due to poor circulation. I guess that week of "rest" on the couch post-Christmas should be translated into a week of "laziness," resulting in poor circulation. Since getting back to work, I haven't noticed it.

What I miss:
(1) Shaving my own legs. Today, after an unspeakable number of overdue days, Adam shaved my legs for the first time this pregnancy. He shaved below my knee and I was able to shave the knee and up, which he held my leg propped up on the shower wall. It's really annoying to have to "schedule" a shave with your husband. Ugh.
(2) Laugh all you want, but I miss being able to see... y'know... "down there." Just to make sure everything is in good condition. I'm still getting Brazilian waxes, so I know it can't be too bad, but it's still a little disconcerning to not be able to SEE ... y'know... it.

Movement: I felt my first subtle hic-cups from the baby this week, but only happened once late at night

Embarrassing Cry of the Week: Apollo 13 (disclaimer: I may have cried at this when non-pregnant as well, but I'm claiming it a preggo cry)

General Mood: I'm starting to hit the third trimester discomfort. Sleep is getting tougher, back-pains are starting late in the day, and generally the belly is getting uncomfortable to carry around. I have a lot of good things to look forward to this month, and I'm still working on the nursery, so I'm trying to keep up the positive attitude, but I'm most definitely not as "perky happy" about being pregnant as I was in the 1st/2nd trimester.

Excited for:
(1) We start birthing classes this coming week. I wonder if it'll be what they show in the movies - with yoga poses and breathing lessons (I most definitely will have a hard time NOT laughing if it is breathing lessons). I'm most excited for the tour of the maternity ward. I've been there twice when Erin had her baby, but excited to see it from "new mommy" eyes as opposed to just a visitor.
(2) Aqua-aerobics also starts this week! It will most definitely be me, one other pregger woman, and like a dozen 80+ year-old-olds. Whatever. It'll be fun. I'm calling it my "old lady splashing class." Hehe.