I am big. I feel huge, but I am at least big. I feel swollen all over and my hips and legs hurt pretty much constantly.
DH treated me to a pregnancy massage a couple of weekends ago and it was heavenly. The only problem is that now I know how good I could feel if I could have one every day. Okay, three times a day would be nice...
We are still not very far along with the nursery. The walls are primed and the ceiling is painted and, well, yeah. That's about it. We have it narrowed down to two colors (I think) and I got the message today that the glider is at the store waiting for us to pick it up. We finally ordered the dresser and chest two weeks ago and we are receiving gifts, one by one, from friends and well-wishers.
Really, I just want to write about how huge I feel. I hurt. A lot.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Lots to catch up on
Where to begin. I am not even going to make excuses for why I have not written in a month.
DH felt baby kick on June 6, but just barely. He "thought" he felt him. The very next day, June 7th, he definitely felt him moving around. One recent June morning, we were spooning and the baby was kicking me really hard, very frequently. I wrapped DH's arm around me a little lower and placed his hand over the middle, left side of my belly. BOOM! DH just said, "Wow." He buried his face in my neck and we laid there while the baby said his booming hellos from inside of me. The strength of his kicks and punches is truly amazing.
I do not really sleep anymore. I developed really bad hemorrhoids in June and the pain from those has made sleeping a bit tough. That pain, along with needing to pee several times a night, the baby waking me up with his kicks (I love it!), and the body aches, has really made my definition of a good night's sleep change pretty drastically. Poor DH is not sleeping so well either, though. Almost every time I get up to go to the bathroom, he awakes as well and asks if everything is okay. It is so very sweet that he wants to make sure baby and I are doing well, but I feel guilty that his sleep is disrupted. I guess what "they" say is true - your body really prepares you for the lack of sleep you will experience after baby comes into the world.
So, the hemorrhoids. They were bad. Really bad. I was bleeding a lot from the anus and the pain was, at times, just unbearable. One Saturday night, DH had to go out to CVS to buy creams and a sitz bath, along with ice packs and witch hazel. I just started using everything possible. The OB prescribed a corticosteroid at my last appointment (Proctofoam - love the name), but, after reading about it and knowing that it crosses the placenta, I just could not bring myself to use it. It remains unfilled at the pharmacy up the street. I visited my PCP (who is a mother of two and due with her third a week before my due date) and she prescribed something as well. I am not using that either, but things are healing well at this point. I did start taking Colace and it has helped things move a bit, at least.
I have become very used to the baby's routine. He is active in the middle of the night, again around 8:00 or 8:30 in the morning, at 2:00 in the afternoon, and again between 9:00 and 10:00 at night. He grew pretty still for about two days and I got a bit nervous. When I really stopped to concentrate on him, though, I found that I could feel his little kicks and punches. Last night, for the first time, I felt him rolling around. The feel of a roll is very different - and totally weird. Very cool, of course, but so weird.
My parents came over for the 4th of July last night and both of them felt the baby kick. My dad felt several little ones and my mom felt on big one and a couple of small ones. They were tickled.
I guess that is about it.
We picked the crib up a couple of weeks ago and it sits, disassembled until we get the rest of the nursery together. We finally ordered a glider chair after three long and tortured visits to BuyBuyBaby to figure out what we wanted. We are now looking to order the rest of the nursery furniture and will likely do so this coming week. I cannot believe I am six-and-a-half months pregnant. October sounds like a while away from July, but it is right around the corner!
DH felt baby kick on June 6, but just barely. He "thought" he felt him. The very next day, June 7th, he definitely felt him moving around. One recent June morning, we were spooning and the baby was kicking me really hard, very frequently. I wrapped DH's arm around me a little lower and placed his hand over the middle, left side of my belly. BOOM! DH just said, "Wow." He buried his face in my neck and we laid there while the baby said his booming hellos from inside of me. The strength of his kicks and punches is truly amazing.
I do not really sleep anymore. I developed really bad hemorrhoids in June and the pain from those has made sleeping a bit tough. That pain, along with needing to pee several times a night, the baby waking me up with his kicks (I love it!), and the body aches, has really made my definition of a good night's sleep change pretty drastically. Poor DH is not sleeping so well either, though. Almost every time I get up to go to the bathroom, he awakes as well and asks if everything is okay. It is so very sweet that he wants to make sure baby and I are doing well, but I feel guilty that his sleep is disrupted. I guess what "they" say is true - your body really prepares you for the lack of sleep you will experience after baby comes into the world.
So, the hemorrhoids. They were bad. Really bad. I was bleeding a lot from the anus and the pain was, at times, just unbearable. One Saturday night, DH had to go out to CVS to buy creams and a sitz bath, along with ice packs and witch hazel. I just started using everything possible. The OB prescribed a corticosteroid at my last appointment (Proctofoam - love the name), but, after reading about it and knowing that it crosses the placenta, I just could not bring myself to use it. It remains unfilled at the pharmacy up the street. I visited my PCP (who is a mother of two and due with her third a week before my due date) and she prescribed something as well. I am not using that either, but things are healing well at this point. I did start taking Colace and it has helped things move a bit, at least.
I have become very used to the baby's routine. He is active in the middle of the night, again around 8:00 or 8:30 in the morning, at 2:00 in the afternoon, and again between 9:00 and 10:00 at night. He grew pretty still for about two days and I got a bit nervous. When I really stopped to concentrate on him, though, I found that I could feel his little kicks and punches. Last night, for the first time, I felt him rolling around. The feel of a roll is very different - and totally weird. Very cool, of course, but so weird.
My parents came over for the 4th of July last night and both of them felt the baby kick. My dad felt several little ones and my mom felt on big one and a couple of small ones. They were tickled.
I guess that is about it.
We picked the crib up a couple of weeks ago and it sits, disassembled until we get the rest of the nursery together. We finally ordered a glider chair after three long and tortured visits to BuyBuyBaby to figure out what we wanted. We are now looking to order the rest of the nursery furniture and will likely do so this coming week. I cannot believe I am six-and-a-half months pregnant. October sounds like a while away from July, but it is right around the corner!
Sunday, May 31, 2009
(sigh) I'm such a slacker
I cannot believe how much time I have let pass since I last wrote. As is what happens with life, life got in the way of my planned living. We had just finished demolishing the guest bathroom to make it super baby friendly (and just nicer in general) when the basement flooded. The same thing happened 14 months ago, at which time we had redone the entire thing and been thrilled with the results. It was going to be a great playroom... and will again. The problem, of course, is that, now, we have two construction projects going in the house at the same time. That fact, coupled with DH's business trip to New York the week after the flood has meant that there has not been much time to do things like... blog.
Enough of the excuses. Well, since my last writing, I think the biggest thing to happen is the halfway point. Last week marked the top of the pregnancy hill. It is a bit overwhelming to think that we are more than halfway through the time until the little guy arrives, but, like most things with this pregnancy, the mixed emotion involved is excitement. It is awesome to think about his arrival. I cannot wait to meet him, to see his little face, to know what he likes and does not like, etc., etc.
He is moving all over the place. The last doctor's appointment (a week ago from last Friday), the doc tried to listen to the heartbeat and ended up hearing it very briefly before giving up, saying he was squiggling all over the place. "He's a squirmer!" the doc said. Now I just cannot wait to have DH feel him kick... it is coming soon, I am sure.
Enough of the excuses. Well, since my last writing, I think the biggest thing to happen is the halfway point. Last week marked the top of the pregnancy hill. It is a bit overwhelming to think that we are more than halfway through the time until the little guy arrives, but, like most things with this pregnancy, the mixed emotion involved is excitement. It is awesome to think about his arrival. I cannot wait to meet him, to see his little face, to know what he likes and does not like, etc., etc.
He is moving all over the place. The last doctor's appointment (a week ago from last Friday), the doc tried to listen to the heartbeat and ended up hearing it very briefly before giving up, saying he was squiggling all over the place. "He's a squirmer!" the doc said. Now I just cannot wait to have DH feel him kick... it is coming soon, I am sure.
Friday, May 8, 2009
From Team Green to ...
The basement flooded on Wednesday night. I know that, at first blush, a basement flood does not seem to have much to do with a baby or pregnancy, but, in my crazy life, it does.
Our basement flooded 14 months ago and we woke up to find the damage already done. It was stressful, but we really took it in stride. On Wednesday night, however, we were just getting ready to pack it in and head to bed when DH looked over and shouted, "Oh S**T!" I looked over, mirrored his sentiment, and started running around like the crazy pregnant lady I am. Having built up in the stairwell, the water was coming through the door andwe were watching it happen. I grabbed every towel, sheet, and towel- or sheet-like object I could find. It was not until I was leaning against the door (in just my underwear - my robe was terrycloth) with the equivalent of a white sale that I realized I was hyperventilating and hurting. I was hurting quite a bit. My abdomen, in fact, was filled with shooting pains. I tried to calm myself down and, with DH's help, calmed my breathing. The pain remained.
I thought about heading to the hospital but decided against it, figuring that rest would make the pain go away. When I awoke just after 7:00 a.m. the next day, the pain was still around. There was more discomfort than pain, but I was worried, so I called the doc. He decided that it would be good to "take a look at the baby." I was grateful because I am pretty sure he was making that decision to ease my mind rather than out of concern.
11:30 a.m. - doc's office for an ultrasound.
12:00 p.m. - in ultrasound room.
12:02 p.m. - ultrasound tech types in, "Anatomy Check"
And that was it - we were going to find out the gender of our baby. We did not want to know while I was prone on an uncomfortable table, covered in goo, so I asked the tech to not tell us if she was able to tell and instead to write it down at the end of the appointment so we could find out when DH and I were together and home.
About five minutes into the ultrasound, DH said, "Hey! The baby just punched you." I said, "Yeah. Baby beats me up."
Baby looked perfect. All the measurements were just right or ahead and there are no signs of any potential problems. Depsite all of the poking and rubbing, baby did not change positions even once the whole exam. The tech was going crazy because we were able to see everything except the correct view of the spine. Baby just would not turn. The tech took a break at one point and, when she left the room, DH threatened to "turn this car around" unless baby turned. Baby did not care. After an hour had passed, the tech finally gave up on seeing the spine and went to get the doctor. Wouldn't you know? Baby turned in that amount of time and we saw the spine - also looking perfect. Stubborn, yes, but a real performer when it mattered.
We got home and went about some business with the house and with some work matters to which we both needed to attend. After I had finished all of my work, I told DH that I wanted both of us to write down what gender we thought the baby was the day before, what gender we thought after the exam, and the funniest name we could think of for that gender. He said, "Let's just look now." (Neither of us could stand knowing such an amazing piece of information was on a piece of paper just a few feet away.)
We went into the family room with the envelope, sat down on the couch, looked at the ultrasound pictures we had been given and then flipped them over.
"IT'S A BOY. CONGRATULATIONS."
A boy! A little boy! My son. A tiny DH. It's a BOY!!!
Our basement flooded 14 months ago and we woke up to find the damage already done. It was stressful, but we really took it in stride. On Wednesday night, however, we were just getting ready to pack it in and head to bed when DH looked over and shouted, "Oh S**T!" I looked over, mirrored his sentiment, and started running around like the crazy pregnant lady I am. Having built up in the stairwell, the water was coming through the door andwe were watching it happen. I grabbed every towel, sheet, and towel- or sheet-like object I could find. It was not until I was leaning against the door (in just my underwear - my robe was terrycloth) with the equivalent of a white sale that I realized I was hyperventilating and hurting. I was hurting quite a bit. My abdomen, in fact, was filled with shooting pains. I tried to calm myself down and, with DH's help, calmed my breathing. The pain remained.
I thought about heading to the hospital but decided against it, figuring that rest would make the pain go away. When I awoke just after 7:00 a.m. the next day, the pain was still around. There was more discomfort than pain, but I was worried, so I called the doc. He decided that it would be good to "take a look at the baby." I was grateful because I am pretty sure he was making that decision to ease my mind rather than out of concern.
11:30 a.m. - doc's office for an ultrasound.
12:00 p.m. - in ultrasound room.
12:02 p.m. - ultrasound tech types in, "Anatomy Check"
And that was it - we were going to find out the gender of our baby. We did not want to know while I was prone on an uncomfortable table, covered in goo, so I asked the tech to not tell us if she was able to tell and instead to write it down at the end of the appointment so we could find out when DH and I were together and home.
About five minutes into the ultrasound, DH said, "Hey! The baby just punched you." I said, "Yeah. Baby beats me up."
Baby looked perfect. All the measurements were just right or ahead and there are no signs of any potential problems. Depsite all of the poking and rubbing, baby did not change positions even once the whole exam. The tech was going crazy because we were able to see everything except the correct view of the spine. Baby just would not turn. The tech took a break at one point and, when she left the room, DH threatened to "turn this car around" unless baby turned. Baby did not care. After an hour had passed, the tech finally gave up on seeing the spine and went to get the doctor. Wouldn't you know? Baby turned in that amount of time and we saw the spine - also looking perfect. Stubborn, yes, but a real performer when it mattered.
We got home and went about some business with the house and with some work matters to which we both needed to attend. After I had finished all of my work, I told DH that I wanted both of us to write down what gender we thought the baby was the day before, what gender we thought after the exam, and the funniest name we could think of for that gender. He said, "Let's just look now." (Neither of us could stand knowing such an amazing piece of information was on a piece of paper just a few feet away.)
We went into the family room with the envelope, sat down on the couch, looked at the ultrasound pictures we had been given and then flipped them over.
"IT'S A BOY. CONGRATULATIONS."
A boy! A little boy! My son. A tiny DH. It's a BOY!!!
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Reading to my belly
DH read "OH, Baby, The Places You'll Go!" to my belly last night. Well, he read to the baby, but I think he is still wrapping his head around that. He obviously knows on one level that he is reading to our little one, but I am pretty sure he mostly feels like he is reading to my stomach. Emotionally, it is a big jump to read to the baby, and, really, it is an even bigger jump to read to something sort of, well, not there in immediate sight.
It was really neat, though, to hear DH work through Dr. Seuss's made-up words and rhyme schemes. It was adorable and I loved it and I love him for loving our baby. Great night.
It was really neat, though, to hear DH work through Dr. Seuss's made-up words and rhyme schemes. It was adorable and I loved it and I love him for loving our baby. Great night.
Monday, May 4, 2009
Slacker is back with a nosebleed
The photos below are of my torso at five weeks (bottom) and 16 weeks (top). Still no bump, but I am definitely looking more full-waisted!
A lot has been happening. So much, in fact, that I have let way too much time pass since I last wrote. I was never good at keeping a journal growing up... not sure why I thought I would be any better now. I am trying, though! As my mommy mantra requires me to state, "I do not have to be perfect. Just good enough."
I was driving down the road last week, DH behind me, when I reached up because my nose was a little drippy. Lo and behold - blood! I was no longer able to escape the pregnancy bloody nose. It was brief and not bad, but I was afraid that bloody nose was just the beginning of many. So far, no more (knock on wood). At least I know my body's blood flow has increased for baby.
Also last week, my daily pregnancy calendar noted that, if I shine a flashlight on my belly, the baby will move to cover his or her eyes. DH and I gave it a shot and - pow! - I felt baby move. I, of course, have not idea if the baby was annoyed and eye-covering, or startled and jumpy, but, regardless of how I harassed my baby, I felt movement. It was awesome.
Last night, we ordered the crib and we are very excited. It's a big purchase, baby's bed, and it feels good to know we are on the road to nurserydom.
Today marks two weeks until the big ultrasound. We cannot wait to see baby again!
A lot has been happening. So much, in fact, that I have let way too much time pass since I last wrote. I was never good at keeping a journal growing up... not sure why I thought I would be any better now. I am trying, though! As my mommy mantra requires me to state, "I do not have to be perfect. Just good enough."
I was driving down the road last week, DH behind me, when I reached up because my nose was a little drippy. Lo and behold - blood! I was no longer able to escape the pregnancy bloody nose. It was brief and not bad, but I was afraid that bloody nose was just the beginning of many. So far, no more (knock on wood). At least I know my body's blood flow has increased for baby.
Also last week, my daily pregnancy calendar noted that, if I shine a flashlight on my belly, the baby will move to cover his or her eyes. DH and I gave it a shot and - pow! - I felt baby move. I, of course, have not idea if the baby was annoyed and eye-covering, or startled and jumpy, but, regardless of how I harassed my baby, I felt movement. It was awesome.
Last night, we ordered the crib and we are very excited. It's a big purchase, baby's bed, and it feels good to know we are on the road to nurserydom.
Today marks two weeks until the big ultrasound. We cannot wait to see baby again!
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
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