Happy New Year

From the multitudes of books and websites, I am officially in the 3rd trimester this week at 28 weeks (that's 7 months). That means 3 months left, 12 weeks. Which seems like a lot but then not nearly enough time, considering we still have to move and buy everything for the baby, who currently would not even have a place to sleep if he came tomorrow (although my husband keeps insisting that a shoe box will hold him just fine). So the plan is to do baby registry this weekend and move by February 1. Lots of changes for the new year.

Baby B is now able to open his eyes and even has little baby eyelashes. He weighs 2 and 1/2 pounds and is almost to his birth length, I don't have a fruit or veggie comparison this week so you'll have to use your imagination. I can feel him flip over sometimes which is very weird and makes my whole stomach move.

We had a nice quiet Christmas with presents, homemade donuts, movies and ham for dinner. Then Micah passed out in a food coma at 9:00. It was good. Thank you to everyone for the lovely gifts and I'm sure Baby B will enjoy the new clothes once he is born. Thank you also to all our friends who sent us pictures this year. We had good intentions of sending holiday cards, but it didn't happen. We promise to send pictures of Baby B after he arrives. That makes up for it, right?

Happy New Year!

Me, made out of icing

So, 27 weeks. Some of the books and websites say this is the beginning of the 3rd trimester, others say it officially starts next week. It's a holiday week, so it doesn't matter anyway. Baby B is working on developing his gray matter this week. Apparently neurons are firing away in there. He weighs about 2 pounds now, so he is getting big and strong. Mama took a prenatal yoga class on Sunday and that seemed to help her aching back a little bit.

As you can see, Sophie was helping put lights on the tree a couple weeks back and she did a fantastic job. We got our first, real Christmas tree and it smells great. It also seems to be pretty easy to take care of, but I think because the water resevoir holds like 2 gallons of water, so if we forget, it's no biggie. We are going to have a relaxing Christmas here in San Diego. I'm glad to say that we will not be traveling in this mess of storms this year, but we will miss everyone.

Oh, and here is what I look like made out of icing. We had a baby shower at work for the 3 pregnant ladies and we each had a little cake with a figure made out of fondant icing. Awesome.

Can you pick that up for me?

Baby B is starting to pack on the lbs to look more like a baby and less like skin and bones. He’s practicing his breathing skills by inhaling amniotic fluid (is there anything this fluid does not do?). Mama thinks he is also practicing his numchuk skills in there. Yesterday he had one of his body parts lodged in my ribs, which made it a little difficult to breathe. I kept poking him and he finally moved. He is now the size of an “English hothouse cucumber” or 14 inches from head to heel (this week we start including the legs instead of just crown to rump). The growing belly is making it difficult to cross my legs and bend down to pick things up, much to my husband’s amusement.

I was sort of getting away with wearing some regular shirts mixed in with maternity stuff, but now they are too short and getting too stretched out, so I am exclusively in maternity tops. Which means, I have to go shopping because I only have about 5 work tops and 5 non work tops. As you all know, I do not like shopping. Add to that that it is December and people are crazy nuts when it comes to shopping and you will see why I will be wearing the same 5 shirts over the next week or so. The good thing is I don’t have to worry about eating too much during the holidays when food is flowing through the office.

Yesterday, while shopping for my Christmas gift on-line, Micah found a thing that you could order to make a mold of your pregnant belly. We both agreed that that is probably the creepiest thing we’ve ever seen, even on the internet. People are weird.

Happy Birthday to me

Today, I am 29. And I'm going to be a mom. I'm old. Just thought I'd throw that out there.

Anyway, last week we went for our 24 week check up. All is well and Lil Mr. B seems to be growing well. He is also extremely active. The Dr. went to listen to his heart with the little doppler thing and he kept moving around while she was trying to listen. It sort of makes the sound of someone brushing against a microphone when he is moving. So she finally found a place where she could hear it and after about 10 seconds, he kicked right where the doppler thing was, which made a nice thud. He is apparently a little stinker. Must take after his dad.

And for all of you crazies who want pictures, here you go. I must say after all the demanding of pictures, I posted this on facebook and have gotten 1 comment. I think it must be worse than everyone thought;)

Random Thoughts for Tuesday Morning

In case anyone was wondering, the new Salted Carmel Signature Hot Chocolate at Starbucks tastes like liquid donut. It also has about the same amount of sugar as two donuts, so drink with caution (Baby B is bouncing off the walls in there). Plus it is ridiculously expensive. I would not recommend it unless you are interested in a sugar coma.

I am feeling pretty large this week but not very in charge. I am now 6 months prego. My back hurts especially when I sit all day at work. It mostly feels like my sacrum needs to pop but there is no good way to pop this sucker since it is very difficult to twist with a soccer ball in your stomach. Baby B is the length of an ear of corn (or a foot long Subway sandwich). He weighs about a pound and a half and my resources say that is a 4 ounce increase from last week, which is probably why I am feeling extra large this week. This week he is building his lungs so that when he is born, he can transport oxygen throughout his tiny body.

We are honing in on a name but are not ready to reveal our choice yet. It is actually me who is hesitant about it. It’s a lot of pressure to name another human being and I want to make sure we are not scarring him for life.

We rode bikes on Saturday in Coronado, which was quite fun. I was a little nervous about my balance but after the first 2 minutes of sheer panic, I seemed to do fine. Last night we went out and I sat on a couch that was much too low to the ground (which of course I didn’t realize until I got down there). So, I had to do a real “pregnant lady” dismount, which Micah found hilarious. He politely waited for me to start laughing before he started. My belly button is on the verge of popping out. If you have ever seen the inside of your belly button (if you have an innie), it is weird. It’s like, what if your nose or your ear turned inside out. It’s just not normal.

The scary part is that I’m only getting bigger…

Squash and Toenails

At week 22, Baby B is the size of a spaghetti squash. He weighs about 1 pound and Mama has been feeling him move around quite a bit. I hope that is not a sign of a hyperactive kid. Micah got to feel him move for the first time the other night. Last week Baby was moving around and I put his hand on my stomach. He said, “I think I felt something” and I was like, “no that was wasn’t him”. But this time he definitely felt him kick.

I’ve noticed some changes this week. One issue was that trying to cut my toenails was quite challenging. How do you get your food close enough to your body to see what you’re doing with your stomach in the way? I was kind of out of breath by the time I was done. Darn, I guess I will just have to get pedicures from now on.

I also had 2 strangers ask when my due date is, so I guess I look prego now and not just like I ate too many burritos. Pregnancy seems like it is going slowly now. I guess I was really looking towards the half way landmark and now that I’m past it, there is only the scary labor part to look forward to. And maternity leave, of course. Man, I wish I still worked at the ISO for their sweet, sweet maternity leave policy.

Fluids and Pants

Things have been moving along smoothly, except that this is the longest week ever. At 20 weeks, Baby B is the length of a banana and is practicing swallowing his own amniotic fluid to prepare for digestion. Ick. One of my newsletters says that the amniotic fluid tastes different depending on what I eat that day. So I’m trying to switch it up a bit so he will have an advanced taste palate. P.S. – several Pediatricians have told me that eating dirt is fine (not that I have wanted to eat dirt or anything) but they seem to think it helps with the baby’s immune system. When one of them told me this, I thought it was kind of weird, but when 2 other people told me, I was kind of freaked out. I guess that means the 5 second rule is good and Pediatrician approved.

Now for the real topic of conversation, maternity pants. While wonderful and super comfy when your stomach is too big for normal pants, I have one tiny little issue with them. I have these ones that have “Secret Belly Fit” (I’m not making that name up). It’s like a cotton spandex at the top, which is very light and smooth so you don’t have to deal with weird wrinkling on your belly and it is easily stretchable for when my belly gets even bigger. To my dancer friends - the material reminds me a little bit of tights. However, the issue is that these do not give you that satisfying snugness around your hips and waist, making you unsure if your pants are falling down or not. I imagine it is how that clown pants with the hula hoop around the top feel. Hence, I am constantly pulling my pants up, which is very attractive. Which adds to the attractiveness of having a large belly, wearing pants with elastic waists and eating like a truck driver. HOT.

Ok, eager beavers, here are the details

Yesterday was the big day: the sonogram day. The day that started way too early for me. I made the appointment for 7:30 am to make sure my husband could go with me. This is all fine and good, except that I don’t usually wake up until 7 am on most regular days. With a good 20-30 minute drive to the doctor’s office, I couldn’t roll out of bed at my regular time. I mean, I suppose, theoretically, I could, but if you’ve ever seen my hair when I wake up, you would know what I’m talking about. Plus, without a shower, I would have been asleep in that dimly lit room in about 2 minutes and missed the whole thing. I was very excited because I was going to get real coffee before I went to the doctor. I had been told that if you drink a little caffeine before the sonogram, the baby will be moving around and you have a much better chance of seeing the baby’s gender. So, being late as we were, we were still going to stop for Starbucks, damn it! I got my mocha! But as we are driving up to the doctor’s office, I have to pee so badly that I only drink about a quarter of it. You are supposed to have a full bladder for the sonogram, so I can’t just stop and pee (in addition to the fact that we are running late).

Anyway, get to the doctor, wait in the lobby, and the first thing I ask when I get in the door is if I can go to the bathroom. They are going to measure the cervix first, and then I can pee. And thank God too because she was really digging that ultrasound machine into my abdomen trying to see all aspects of Baby B. We saw his heart, all 4 chambers. His extremities, his head got measured, his belly with bladder, kidneys, and stomach, and his little twig and berries. We didn’t include all of the pictures because we couldn’t figure out what they were. You can see the graphic pictures below. You may want to ask small children to leave the room as they might be traumatized. There was discussion about putting a censor box over it, but then why bother to post it.

The results are in...

We had our sonogram today and we are having a little boy! More details and pictures to come.

Baby Got Back

So people have been bugging me about a sharing a picture of my pregnant belly. Despite my husbands insistence that it is weird, I decided that I would go ahead and do it. Now you are probably looking at the blog and saying, "hey, where's this picture of fat Emily?". Well, let me tell you right now, you are not going to see it. I took a picture of myself in my pregnant state and I have to say that I was a little shocked at the result. Not the front part, but the back part. I was totally prepared to see my stomach sticking out in a potbelly way, but I was not prepared for my ass to be sticking out just as far in the back. Not pretty, my friends. Not that I thought being pregnant would be glamorous and I would look like , but, you can see the front and what's going on there. The back on the other hand, you got no idea what's going on there. So, I'm pretty much mortified right now and don't really want to show anyone that picture. My husband says, "you gotta have something in the back to balance out the front or you would just fall over". Wise words. Wise words. I'm sure in a couple weeks I will come to grips with the physics of it all and might be ready to share. Until then, you will have to satisfy yourself with grainy ultrasound pictures of Baby B - who, by the way, should be making his/her gender known to us this week and will thus have more pictures soon.

Week 17

So at 17 weeks, I’m feeling pretty good. A little on the tired side, but I guess that is to be expected when you are growing a human being in your belly. Supposedly, this week the baby is making fat tissue. Before that, Baby was very busy making organs and moving its eyes towards the front of its face to avoid “fish face” appearance. It’s strange to me that people are starting to ask how the baby is doing. I assume Baby is doing fine. I mean, I can’t see or feel (yet) what’s going on in there, so I’m assuming it’s all going according to plan. The stomach continues to move outward which is either a result of the baby or eating too many fudgesicles. They are Skinny Cow fudgesicles though so I’m going to put my money on Baby B. October 23 is the date of our ultrasound, so more details and pictures will be available after that date.

Week 15

So, I am in my 15 week of pregnancy. The weird thing happening this week (that I can see) is over the course of 3 days my belly has started sticking out significantly. It was like one day I was wearing regular pants (with the proper ratio of 1-2% spandex, of course) and the next day, I need to unbutton my pants so I can sit down. This creates a slight problem because this Saturday is the Gala, where I am expected to wear something “black tie” appropriate. When I tried on my dress from last year, two weeks ago, I thought, this is do-able. I mean, I look pregnant, but I can zip it and I can breathe. Bonus! However, now since my belly has started showing, I’m afraid that it won’t fit as well. So I’m sure there will be a picture of me looking a) way more pregnant than I actually am in a dress that barely fits or b) something less appropriate for a black tie event, but really who cares, I’m staff and I’m not even allowed to sit down at the dinner. Either way, it promises to be uncomfortable. I’m very excited.

My husband thinks that it’s weird that people take pictures of their growing “baby bump” and share it with their friends and family. Yes, we must hide all photographic evidence of pregnancy to promote the myth that our baby actually came from a cabbage patch or stork or such. I said, “people like to see what you look like when you are pregnant.” He says, “I see pregnant people everyday, it’s not that exciting.” Well, people don’t see me pregnant everyday so whatever, dude. I think people secretly just want to know what I look like fat…which makes me rethink the picture thing.

Your Monday Sucker

Is there anything that makes you feel less helpless than your car dying on you while driving? I would have to say no. When you press the gas and nothing happens, you pretty much feel like you have discovered you are stranded on a desert island (not to be confused with a dessert island, which would be heaven). There are usually two reactions to this kind of situation. 1. Panic and begin flailing, calling the first person on your speed dial to ask them what to do. 2. Panic and get angry at the car and begin yelling at it. I usually opt for #1 and my husband usually opts for #2. Being by myself this morning and on my way to work on a lovely Monday morning, I immediately call my husband (who by the way has already been at work for 2 hours). Now, I know that I am a grown up and I should be able to compose myself enough to call AAA but I'm panicked, so I call my husband. Which gives me a little bit of relief because he tells me this has happened to him before and I should wait a few minutes and try to start the car again. Unfortunately, this did not work and being in the left lane with no shoulder to pull off on made the situation a little more unnerving. Luckily, a good Samaritan pushed my car to the other side of the street where there was a shoulder.

Once the whole towing and whatnot was squared away, there came the mechanic part. Why do I feel like such a helpless girl when it comes to this stuff! Let's face it, I pretty much always feel like I'm getting screwed over when my car gets worked on, but when you're desperate, it is even worse. They could tell me just about anything and while I might not believe them, I don't know how to refute it. And when your car won't start, it's a lot harder to threaten to go somewhere for second opinion because that involves towing it again, which, let's be honest, not gonna happen. I like how everyone has brilliant suggestions about mechanics once the car is already fixed, but when do you ever look for a mechanic until you are desperate? The car will supposedly be fixed tomorrow. By the way, that will be $500. How come no matter what the problem is, it's $500? SUCKER!

Skin that Shines like a Diamond

So the other day, I bought make up. While this might not seem like a momentous occasion for a 28 year old woman to be buying make up, let me inform you that the last time I bought make up was for my wedding 4 years ago. And the only reason I went out and purchased make up was because my sister-in-law worked for Clinique and gave me some things she got for free so I could exchange them for what I wanted. I don't know if that really qualifies as "buying" make up, but I did actually have to shop for it. Wearing make-up has always been a mystery to me. I know when I was 12 I couldn't wait to wear make up, but by the time I got to high school, it was really more trouble that it was worth. Plus I was dancing for many hours after school and nothing is grosser than watching someone's flesh-colored sweat drip off their face. Eww, it looks like your face is melting. So I pretty much stopped using it except for "one night stands", where the make up goes on for a few hours for a special occasion or a performance. It's been more than 10 years since I put on make up on a daily basis and I would like to report that 3 days in a row I have put on foundation and blush. What can I say, I got a BOGO deal at CVS.

The real reason I have started wearing it is that I have suddenly regained the skin of a 13 year old. The deal is that since I went off the b.c. I have remembered why I went on the b.c. to begin with, to control the bumps on my face after a typical encounter with my mother. My freshman year in college, my mom came to visit me at school and mentioned that I might want to go to the dermatologist the next time I came home. Apparently, my 13 year old self was resurfacing through my skin. The reason I stopped using medications in college was that I am a redhead and my skin actually reflects the sunlight. I burn with about 20 minutes of sun exposure if I forget my sunscreen (which don't worry, I wear all the time). Adding topical stuff to my face with a warning that said, "may cause increased sensitivity to sunlight" was pretty much like rubbing Crisco on my skin. A walk to the mailbox might result in third degree burns. So my solution to this opportunity was to tell my mom that I heard from some of my friends that b.c. can make your acne better. I don't think that was the response she was looking for, but whatever, killing two birds with one stone and avoided a different awkward conversation with my mom. I'm happy to say that that method has worked until now, when I'm not taking them anymore. Aren't you supposed to grow out of these things? My husband suggested that once I get knocked up, the acne will go away, but I think that will seem like the least of my issues once I am preggers.