Well, later today at this point. But in about 8 hours, we're leaving for the hospital and will hopefully have a spiffy new baby not too long after that. Oh my.
I know that this hospital has wi-fi (unlike the one I was in with Alec, where we were told they didn't, then discovered they did on my second admission when I brought along my laptop so I could watch movies), so hopefully I'll be doing well enough tomorrow evening to update with pictures and vital statistics.
Showing posts with label pregnancy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pregnancy. Show all posts
Monday, April 23, 2012
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Random Updates
I had such good intentions last week of posting more. And then the puking started. First K, who was quite ill for two days and not terribly energetic for a third. Then Alec, who threw up twice one evening and played quite cheerfully in between. He napped more than usual yesterday and today, but it goes to show how much easier it is to kick a virus when you're not perpetually fighting the infection in your bladder.
Anyway, among other news:
- We saw Arrietty last Monday. It was just so fantastic. The pacing was slow, but the animation was so gorgeous that we didn't mind in the least because we just sat and took in all of the details. K loved it too, and we've started reading The Borrowers to her at bedtime. That's significant because it's the first chapter book she's shown this much sustained interest in. I think she inherited my difficulty with absorbing things through just listening without anything visual to back it up. I can read until the end of time, but I have real difficulty absorbing the same book if I hear it. Similarly, being told how to do something isn't nearly as helpful to me as a nice diagram or set of written instructions. Auditory processing is not my strong suit. Up to this point, K has only wanted books with pictures for her to look at as we read, I suspect because the pictures helped her keep up with the story. But we're up to chapter 5 of The Borrowers, so she can listen to longer texts without pictures if she tries.
- We took K to a new urologist a month ago. He was quite nice and K even liked him enough not to dive under the table upon seeing him, so that's an improvement. We're now on a regimen of frequent water drinking and cranberry pills, which seem to be working pretty well. We have a standing antibiotic prescription if we need it, but we haven't needed it so far. I'm really hoping this is a sign we're making progress.
- Our infant carseat picked up some mold on the straps while being stored in our last garage. I spent an inordinate amount of time trying to decide if it was possible to clean it off without damaging the strength of the straps. Finally, last weekend was the last opportunity for Babies R Us's baby equipment trade in, so I sent B out to get the car seat out of the shed so we could look at it again and decide once and for all if it was salvageable.
As it turns out, all of my indecision was rendered moot when we discovered that a squirrel had been chewing on it. Not to mention pooping in it. And at some point, apparently ran off with the cover.
Well, that certainly made the decision a lot easier. So now we have a new infant carseat. I haven't done any other baby prep, but Godric can now show up and we can at least take him home from the hospital.
I think I'm in a bit of denial about the fact that I'm 31 weeks pregnant and will most likely have a baby two months from now. Part of it is that having had two babies at the end of June, my internal pregnancy clock is two months off. Mentally, I feel like I should only be five months along. My body, however, is acutely aware that I'm 7 months and is letting me know it doesn't appreciate it with the joyously traditional pelvic pain of the third trimester. So I really do need to start thinking about baby planning.
*We're getting baby clothes back from the nephew who wore them last summer, although we need to buy at least a few 0-3 month clothes with long sleeves and pants, since a late April baby needs warmer clothes than a late June baby.
*We have plenty of small diapers, although I should probably order some more one size covers because unless a potty miracle occurs, we're going to have two in diapers for at least a while. Eventually, I'll have to decide what to do about the larger cloth diapers, which are getting decidedly ragged, but we have at least six months for that.
*We gave away some baby equipment, so we should decide what we want to replace. Do we really need a baby swing? A double stroller would be really nice. We can look through some consignment stores for those.
*We also really need to decide what to do about the bed situation. We currently have a queen sized bed, which hosts both of our children on a fairly regular basis, leaving and I desperately hugging the edges of the bed. Adding another child to the already overstuffed bed will require an advanced degree in Tetris. When Alec was born, we put K's old toddler bed next to ours for extra room, but he's using it now. So do we get a king sized bed? Buy a twin to shove next to our current bed which will eventually get used by one of the older children?
Two months is starting to seem awfully close, all of a sudden.
Anyway, among other news:
- We saw Arrietty last Monday. It was just so fantastic. The pacing was slow, but the animation was so gorgeous that we didn't mind in the least because we just sat and took in all of the details. K loved it too, and we've started reading The Borrowers to her at bedtime. That's significant because it's the first chapter book she's shown this much sustained interest in. I think she inherited my difficulty with absorbing things through just listening without anything visual to back it up. I can read until the end of time, but I have real difficulty absorbing the same book if I hear it. Similarly, being told how to do something isn't nearly as helpful to me as a nice diagram or set of written instructions. Auditory processing is not my strong suit. Up to this point, K has only wanted books with pictures for her to look at as we read, I suspect because the pictures helped her keep up with the story. But we're up to chapter 5 of The Borrowers, so she can listen to longer texts without pictures if she tries.
- We took K to a new urologist a month ago. He was quite nice and K even liked him enough not to dive under the table upon seeing him, so that's an improvement. We're now on a regimen of frequent water drinking and cranberry pills, which seem to be working pretty well. We have a standing antibiotic prescription if we need it, but we haven't needed it so far. I'm really hoping this is a sign we're making progress.
- Our infant carseat picked up some mold on the straps while being stored in our last garage. I spent an inordinate amount of time trying to decide if it was possible to clean it off without damaging the strength of the straps. Finally, last weekend was the last opportunity for Babies R Us's baby equipment trade in, so I sent B out to get the car seat out of the shed so we could look at it again and decide once and for all if it was salvageable.
As it turns out, all of my indecision was rendered moot when we discovered that a squirrel had been chewing on it. Not to mention pooping in it. And at some point, apparently ran off with the cover.
Well, that certainly made the decision a lot easier. So now we have a new infant carseat. I haven't done any other baby prep, but Godric can now show up and we can at least take him home from the hospital.
I think I'm in a bit of denial about the fact that I'm 31 weeks pregnant and will most likely have a baby two months from now. Part of it is that having had two babies at the end of June, my internal pregnancy clock is two months off. Mentally, I feel like I should only be five months along. My body, however, is acutely aware that I'm 7 months and is letting me know it doesn't appreciate it with the joyously traditional pelvic pain of the third trimester. So I really do need to start thinking about baby planning.
*We're getting baby clothes back from the nephew who wore them last summer, although we need to buy at least a few 0-3 month clothes with long sleeves and pants, since a late April baby needs warmer clothes than a late June baby.
*We have plenty of small diapers, although I should probably order some more one size covers because unless a potty miracle occurs, we're going to have two in diapers for at least a while. Eventually, I'll have to decide what to do about the larger cloth diapers, which are getting decidedly ragged, but we have at least six months for that.
*We gave away some baby equipment, so we should decide what we want to replace. Do we really need a baby swing? A double stroller would be really nice. We can look through some consignment stores for those.
*We also really need to decide what to do about the bed situation. We currently have a queen sized bed, which hosts both of our children on a fairly regular basis, leaving
Two months is starting to seem awfully close, all of a sudden.
Friday, December 16, 2011
Anatomy lesson
This week, we took K for an anatomy lesson I don't plan to ever repeat in our homeschooling career - to my 20 week ultrasound.
I can't quite believe it's 20 weeks already (21 actually, by the time this gets published). The morning sickness was pretty much gone by 14 or 15 weeks, and while I've been more tired than normal, I could almost forget that I'm pregnant if not for the regular kicks. My waist is thickening but I can still fit into one pair of normal pants and my uterus isn't far enough up yet to create any difficulties when it comes to bending or twisting.
The ultrasound went just fine. Everything looked good and we were treated to some nice views of tiny feet and hands, a sweet little profile and super-creepy skeletal face shots. And a penis. K was terribly disappointed to hear it, but she's getting another baby brother. B and I are feeling a bit stymied because now we have to come up with another boy name.
I have another ultrasound scheduled in four weeks because one of the medications I'm on is associated with smaller babies. Since I've managed to gestate two nine-pound babies while taking said medication, I'm feeling like monthly ultrasounds is overkill, but it doesn't hurt and I don't mind more pictures. I'm also supposed to get a fetal echocardiogram and see a cardiologist, neither of which I've managed to schedule because I'm finding it hard to see the necessity (the cardiologist I can kind of see because it's been nearly a decade since I've seen one. But the fetal echocardiogram because a single study on one of medications suggested a slight increase in heart problems? I'm having trouble seeing the need if everything looked fine at the 20 week ultrasound). I have to make the appointments Monday though, because my next ob appointment is Wednesday and I don't want any more nagging.
Anyway, the really important part is that since he was nice and cooperative on the ultrasound, he gets a new, more gender accurate prenatal nickname. So my fetal passenger is now Godric. He's currently kicking his approval.
I can't quite believe it's 20 weeks already (21 actually, by the time this gets published). The morning sickness was pretty much gone by 14 or 15 weeks, and while I've been more tired than normal, I could almost forget that I'm pregnant if not for the regular kicks. My waist is thickening but I can still fit into one pair of normal pants and my uterus isn't far enough up yet to create any difficulties when it comes to bending or twisting.
The ultrasound went just fine. Everything looked good and we were treated to some nice views of tiny feet and hands, a sweet little profile and super-creepy skeletal face shots. And a penis. K was terribly disappointed to hear it, but she's getting another baby brother. B and I are feeling a bit stymied because now we have to come up with another boy name.
I have another ultrasound scheduled in four weeks because one of the medications I'm on is associated with smaller babies. Since I've managed to gestate two nine-pound babies while taking said medication, I'm feeling like monthly ultrasounds is overkill, but it doesn't hurt and I don't mind more pictures. I'm also supposed to get a fetal echocardiogram and see a cardiologist, neither of which I've managed to schedule because I'm finding it hard to see the necessity (the cardiologist I can kind of see because it's been nearly a decade since I've seen one. But the fetal echocardiogram because a single study on one of medications suggested a slight increase in heart problems? I'm having trouble seeing the need if everything looked fine at the 20 week ultrasound). I have to make the appointments Monday though, because my next ob appointment is Wednesday and I don't want any more nagging.
Anyway, the really important part is that since he was nice and cooperative on the ultrasound, he gets a new, more gender accurate prenatal nickname. So my fetal passenger is now Godric. He's currently kicking his approval.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Tomorrow, I'm going to go to the hospital and have an actual tiny baby.
I think we're ready. The grandparents are here on child care duty. The birthday girl has been amply feted, and I even managed to finish all four princess dresses and the cloak in time. I have finally acquired the big sister gift.* There's still plenty more sewing I could do, but it may or may not happen depending on what kind of baby we get. We have a dresser full of teeny weeny washed baby clothes and 3 dozen washed diapers. Our bedroom is set up so all four of us can sleep together if necessary.
B and I went out to dinner and a movie tonight, sans child. We saw Up, which was just fantastic. I loved it despite the fact that I could see every single emotional plot point a mile off - I mean, how much more literal a representation of a metaphor can you have than a man with a house strapped to his back? But I don't really watch Pixar movies for the convoluted plots. The quality of animation, the fun characters, the wonderful talking dogs, the great touches of humor that had us laughing out loud at times - that's why we go see Pixar movies. I would definitely rank this one up with The Incredibles and Ratatouille.
Off to bed now, since we're going to have to get up way too early in the morning. Hopefully, this time tomorrow I'll have a healthy newborn sleeping next to me.
*I had left it too late to order something online, and when one of her birthday presents from a relative turned out to be a doll, we decided to get her something else. But then I drove out to an incredibly cool toy store (they have, no exaggeration, the ENTIRE line of Playmobil products), and discovered an anatomically correct boy doll, which I was able to purchase for the price of taking 2 minutes to fill out a preferred customer card, and FIVE DOLLARS. Down from $25. Zowee. At that price, I was able to get the doll carriage K had been asking for as well.
I think we're ready. The grandparents are here on child care duty. The birthday girl has been amply feted, and I even managed to finish all four princess dresses and the cloak in time. I have finally acquired the big sister gift.* There's still plenty more sewing I could do, but it may or may not happen depending on what kind of baby we get. We have a dresser full of teeny weeny washed baby clothes and 3 dozen washed diapers. Our bedroom is set up so all four of us can sleep together if necessary.
B and I went out to dinner and a movie tonight, sans child. We saw Up, which was just fantastic. I loved it despite the fact that I could see every single emotional plot point a mile off - I mean, how much more literal a representation of a metaphor can you have than a man with a house strapped to his back? But I don't really watch Pixar movies for the convoluted plots. The quality of animation, the fun characters, the wonderful talking dogs, the great touches of humor that had us laughing out loud at times - that's why we go see Pixar movies. I would definitely rank this one up with The Incredibles and Ratatouille.
Off to bed now, since we're going to have to get up way too early in the morning. Hopefully, this time tomorrow I'll have a healthy newborn sleeping next to me.
*I had left it too late to order something online, and when one of her birthday presents from a relative turned out to be a doll, we decided to get her something else. But then I drove out to an incredibly cool toy store (they have, no exaggeration, the ENTIRE line of Playmobil products), and discovered an anatomically correct boy doll, which I was able to purchase for the price of taking 2 minutes to fill out a preferred customer card, and FIVE DOLLARS. Down from $25. Zowee. At that price, I was able to get the doll carriage K had been asking for as well.
Friday, May 1, 2009
It wasn't so much the fact that I'm on my fourth cold in five weeks, or that this one involves the sore throat from hell, enough green goop in my lungs to make the props department at Nickelodeon jealous and periodic loss of voice.
No, it was the realization yesterday afternoon that what I thought was an eye reddened by hayfever was hurting, not itching, and allergy eye would probably be affecting both of my eyes equally instead of just the one giving me a distinctive Popeye squint. What I had here was pinkeye. THAT was the final sour cherry on top of the pathetic sundae that is my health lately.
I... don't even know what to write any more that isn't plaintive mewling about the general level of disease in this house. I mean, I could talk about swine flu (which is to say, write about the general level of disease outside our house), I suppose, but I'm mostly avoiding the majority of coverage on it on the theory that if Philadelphia turns into a danger zone we'll be warned about it, and in the meantime all reading about it would do is make me engage in obsessive pregnant hormonal fretting (and given that I'm about to have a newborn and have no choice about giving birth in a hospital, it's really best that I avoid that avenue of thought unless I need to).
Most of what I'm doing these days (besides oozing from various orifices) is sewing. Lots and lots of sewing, all by hand. I'm not sure why nesting for me should take the form of patiently sewing millions of stitches by hand, but I find it soothing, it can be done while I languish on the couch and it's certainly useful. So far, I've made: three dresses for K, a new sling, a cover for the cushion to our papasan chair, covers for new pillows for the rocking chair and am currently at work on some diaper liners. My realistic goals for before the baby is born are a few more dresses and a bunch of cloth wipes. My hormone-fueled not-so-realistic goals involve elaborate hand-sewn toys and swaddling the house in cloth. After I finish gathering lots of twigs and leaves and arrange them to my satisfaction, of course.
No, it was the realization yesterday afternoon that what I thought was an eye reddened by hayfever was hurting, not itching, and allergy eye would probably be affecting both of my eyes equally instead of just the one giving me a distinctive Popeye squint. What I had here was pinkeye. THAT was the final sour cherry on top of the pathetic sundae that is my health lately.
I... don't even know what to write any more that isn't plaintive mewling about the general level of disease in this house. I mean, I could talk about swine flu (which is to say, write about the general level of disease outside our house), I suppose, but I'm mostly avoiding the majority of coverage on it on the theory that if Philadelphia turns into a danger zone we'll be warned about it, and in the meantime all reading about it would do is make me engage in obsessive pregnant hormonal fretting (and given that I'm about to have a newborn and have no choice about giving birth in a hospital, it's really best that I avoid that avenue of thought unless I need to).
Most of what I'm doing these days (besides oozing from various orifices) is sewing. Lots and lots of sewing, all by hand. I'm not sure why nesting for me should take the form of patiently sewing millions of stitches by hand, but I find it soothing, it can be done while I languish on the couch and it's certainly useful. So far, I've made: three dresses for K, a new sling, a cover for the cushion to our papasan chair, covers for new pillows for the rocking chair and am currently at work on some diaper liners. My realistic goals for before the baby is born are a few more dresses and a bunch of cloth wipes. My hormone-fueled not-so-realistic goals involve elaborate hand-sewn toys and swaddling the house in cloth. After I finish gathering lots of twigs and leaves and arrange them to my satisfaction, of course.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Dubious milestones, part 24 of an infinite series
When I was pregnant with K, starting at about 32 weeks she started amusing herself by alternating between slouching down in my pelvis in transverse position and stretching herself up into breech, jamming her hard little head into my ribs in the process.
At a mere 29 weeks, Wulfrith has discovered the same trick of jamming his head into my ribs. I guess this is one of the milestones you get to experience when you have babies that don't care to go head down. I suppose I can take comfort in the fact that I may never know what it feels like to get kicked in the ribs.
It's very cute of you to try and imitate your sister, sweetheart, but there's no need to be precocious.
At a mere 29 weeks, Wulfrith has discovered the same trick of jamming his head into my ribs. I guess this is one of the milestones you get to experience when you have babies that don't care to go head down. I suppose I can take comfort in the fact that I may never know what it feels like to get kicked in the ribs.
It's very cute of you to try and imitate your sister, sweetheart, but there's no need to be precocious.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
28 weeks
I had my 27 week prenatal checkup last week and a "check to make sure the baby's still growing" ultrasound today. All looks very well.
After being scolded about my lack of weight gain and measuring behind at 23 weeks, I have now gained a lofty 6 pounds and am measuring a bit ahead. This doesn't surprise me given that while I was in Michigan, I was suddenly attacked by The Hunger. I would have a grilled cheese sandwich for lunch, then make another one an hour later. I would get up to get a snack and grab two other snacks for later because chances were good that "later" would be within the hour. So I guess that's what it's like to be a preschooler going through a growth spurt, even if I wasn't actually the one growing.
Though actually, I am. My stomach grew visibly last week and I finally have an undeniably pregnant shape. My stomach still doesn't stick out to the point that it can't be hidden with a sweatshirt and even if people suspected that I was pregnant, I don't look big enough that they would probably ask for fear that I'm just chunky, but I'm definitely round. My belly button has gotten visibly shallower in the past week as well, and the skin on my abdomen is feeling stretched and sensitive.
Wulfrith measured perfectly on the ultrasound - 28 weeks, 3-4 days (a couple days ahead) and two pounds, 9 ounces. I am no longer worried about his growth or mine.
It's still too early to really worry about positioning, so I will simply note for the record that he is transverse, has been hanging out in that position for at least 6 weeks and is in exactly the same position K spent about 18 weeks in. I asked the doctor what the chances are that he won't turn, given that K never did, and he said pretty good. Babies who like to take weird positions usually do so because there's a structural issue that makes it more comfortable for them. Ah well. He'll come out one way or another. I have another ultrasound at 36 weeks, so we can decide what to do if he hasn't moved by then.
It's definitely the third trimester. I'm tired yet find myself concocting plans to rearrange every single room in the house and sew a tent to cover it. I've had a rotten cold for the past several days, and have discovered that a violent cough and the third trimester don't really mix (if you've been pregnant, you can probably figure out what I mean when I talk about undesirable side effects of coughing. If you haven't, feel lucky). My uterus hasn't grown far up enough in my abdomen yet for him to jam his head into my ribs in that lovely way K did for the last ten weeks, but I'm starting to feel the periodic pressure of his head just below my ribs. He's also large enough to make my abdomen dance and undulate in an entertaining yet highly creepy way.
Less than twelve weeks to go. Eep.
After being scolded about my lack of weight gain and measuring behind at 23 weeks, I have now gained a lofty 6 pounds and am measuring a bit ahead. This doesn't surprise me given that while I was in Michigan, I was suddenly attacked by The Hunger. I would have a grilled cheese sandwich for lunch, then make another one an hour later. I would get up to get a snack and grab two other snacks for later because chances were good that "later" would be within the hour. So I guess that's what it's like to be a preschooler going through a growth spurt, even if I wasn't actually the one growing.
Though actually, I am. My stomach grew visibly last week and I finally have an undeniably pregnant shape. My stomach still doesn't stick out to the point that it can't be hidden with a sweatshirt and even if people suspected that I was pregnant, I don't look big enough that they would probably ask for fear that I'm just chunky, but I'm definitely round. My belly button has gotten visibly shallower in the past week as well, and the skin on my abdomen is feeling stretched and sensitive.
Wulfrith measured perfectly on the ultrasound - 28 weeks, 3-4 days (a couple days ahead) and two pounds, 9 ounces. I am no longer worried about his growth or mine.
It's still too early to really worry about positioning, so I will simply note for the record that he is transverse, has been hanging out in that position for at least 6 weeks and is in exactly the same position K spent about 18 weeks in. I asked the doctor what the chances are that he won't turn, given that K never did, and he said pretty good. Babies who like to take weird positions usually do so because there's a structural issue that makes it more comfortable for them. Ah well. He'll come out one way or another. I have another ultrasound at 36 weeks, so we can decide what to do if he hasn't moved by then.
It's definitely the third trimester. I'm tired yet find myself concocting plans to rearrange every single room in the house and sew a tent to cover it. I've had a rotten cold for the past several days, and have discovered that a violent cough and the third trimester don't really mix (if you've been pregnant, you can probably figure out what I mean when I talk about undesirable side effects of coughing. If you haven't, feel lucky). My uterus hasn't grown far up enough in my abdomen yet for him to jam his head into my ribs in that lovely way K did for the last ten weeks, but I'm starting to feel the periodic pressure of his head just below my ribs. He's also large enough to make my abdomen dance and undulate in an entertaining yet highly creepy way.
Less than twelve weeks to go. Eep.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
End of the week review
*I worked all day at the library today, then came home, took a nap and started in on the second job. Only to discover after an hour that the server had been taken down for unplanned maintenance (although I only found out a couple minutes ago that's what it was - thanks for letting us know so expeditiously, guys). This wouldn't bother me so much except that we were told to have our hours into the payroll system by 3 this afternoon, so I had to put my Friday hours in before actually working them. Ack. Well, I'll figure out how to handle this next week, I guess.
*Tonight after dinner, K went into the cabinet, got out several cookies and came to give me one. Then she told me that two of the other cookies were for Daddy. It was very sweet and touching. Of course, it was sweet and touching in a way that meant that she got two cookies as well, but a year ago she would have been trying to hoard all five cookies for herself so I'll count it as significant progress in the "thinking of others" arena.
*In Friday night tv, Dollhouse was a definite step up in quality from previous episodes and Battlestar Galactica had about as good of an ending as I could hope. This week's episode of Dollhouse also had a fairly clear message from Joss Whedon of "In case you thought I was trying to say that human trafficking is in any way acceptable or that I'm trying to glamorize it, no, I'm really really not."
*B had the day off yesterday, so we were finally able to go see Watchmen. I admit that it's been quite a while since I've read the comic, but from what I remember, the movie was remarkably faithful to the comic. It was definitely incredibly graphic, but it helped create a tone that was very consistent with the story. Since the point of the comic was to provide a non-glamorized view of what real-life superheroes would really be like, the depictions of violence that didn't spare the viewer at all seemed pretty appropriate. Mind you, that meant I watched quite a bit of the movie through my fingers or with my eyes averted since I have very little stomach for graphic violence, but this is one of the very few movies I can think of where it didn't seem gratuitous.
*The same things has happened this week that happened last pregnancy: the day I started my third trimester, my pelvis started aching. It's more in the hips and lower back this time instead of the pubic bone, probably because Wulfrith is lying even farther back in my abdomen than K, which I didn't think was possible. I'm doubly glad now that I got travelling out of the way last week so I didn't have to traipse across the airport with my hips feeling like they're about to fall apart. Ah, the delights of the third trimester - aching joints, reflux, exhaustion, sciatica, ever-decreasing lung and bladder capacity... all sending the message that it's all downhill from here. Of course, at the bottom of the hill you get a baby, so it's worth it.
K informed me tonight that she wants two babies, a baby brother and baby sister. Sorry kid, there's just the one with no options of adding on. But it's good of her to remind me how much worse it could be. Yikes.
*Tonight after dinner, K went into the cabinet, got out several cookies and came to give me one. Then she told me that two of the other cookies were for Daddy. It was very sweet and touching. Of course, it was sweet and touching in a way that meant that she got two cookies as well, but a year ago she would have been trying to hoard all five cookies for herself so I'll count it as significant progress in the "thinking of others" arena.
*In Friday night tv, Dollhouse was a definite step up in quality from previous episodes and Battlestar Galactica had about as good of an ending as I could hope. This week's episode of Dollhouse also had a fairly clear message from Joss Whedon of "In case you thought I was trying to say that human trafficking is in any way acceptable or that I'm trying to glamorize it, no, I'm really really not."
*B had the day off yesterday, so we were finally able to go see Watchmen. I admit that it's been quite a while since I've read the comic, but from what I remember, the movie was remarkably faithful to the comic. It was definitely incredibly graphic, but it helped create a tone that was very consistent with the story. Since the point of the comic was to provide a non-glamorized view of what real-life superheroes would really be like, the depictions of violence that didn't spare the viewer at all seemed pretty appropriate. Mind you, that meant I watched quite a bit of the movie through my fingers or with my eyes averted since I have very little stomach for graphic violence, but this is one of the very few movies I can think of where it didn't seem gratuitous.
*The same things has happened this week that happened last pregnancy: the day I started my third trimester, my pelvis started aching. It's more in the hips and lower back this time instead of the pubic bone, probably because Wulfrith is lying even farther back in my abdomen than K, which I didn't think was possible. I'm doubly glad now that I got travelling out of the way last week so I didn't have to traipse across the airport with my hips feeling like they're about to fall apart. Ah, the delights of the third trimester - aching joints, reflux, exhaustion, sciatica, ever-decreasing lung and bladder capacity... all sending the message that it's all downhill from here. Of course, at the bottom of the hill you get a baby, so it's worth it.
K informed me tonight that she wants two babies, a baby brother and baby sister. Sorry kid, there's just the one with no options of adding on. But it's good of her to remind me how much worse it could be. Yikes.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
What goes around comes around
Particularly when it's the flu.
K is mostly better, although I was quite glad that they put a pullup on her at daycare yesterday when I took it off and discovered it was excessively grody. For all my years of cloth diapering, I have to admit that very occasionally you get the sort of diaper where it's very nice to just be able to toss it in the trash, and very very nice not to have to deal with cleaning up dirty underwear and pants instead.
This, of course, was the cue for B and I to wake up sick yesterday. Thank goodness K was well enough to get shipped of to daycare so we could sleep all day. Today, we're still tired but recovering.
We also seem to be able to eat again, which is a relief. The very few things I ate yesterday came back up, just in time for me to go to a prenatal visit today and get scolded about my weight gain. As in, I should try it sometime.
It's an odd feeling, being told I absolutely have to gain weight, especially since I spent the first nine months of last year fighting a creeping weight gain. But I feel just as powerless to make my weight go where I want it to go as I did then. There was the 16 weeks of morning sickness, extended by one major and two minor bouts of stomach flu (twice, B came home from work complaining of a "funny tummy," which would then result in another two days of throwing up for me after I had thought the worst was over). At my last appointment, I had finally managed to gain three pounds, bringing my pregnancy weight gain to -12. But this time, I hadn't gained an ounce, and I'm not sure that one day of not eating can account for that. I'm really truly trying to eat as much as I can and I'm certainly not staying away from fattening foods. I guess I need to get back to my nightly large mug of chai or hot chocolate and maybe switch to whole milk instead of 2 percent. And maybe add a bowl of ice cream.
This wasn't remotely a problem last time, when I gained 35 pounds and had my ob vocally worried about gestational diabetes when I gained a shocking 8 pounds in four weeks. *eyeroll*
I would be more worried if four weeks ago Wulfrith hadn't been measuring ahead at the last ultrasound and estimated at weighing a pound at only 19 weeks. He's also increasingly vigorous (with a devilish sort of aim for kicking a tiny foot directly into bladder) and my uterus is growing up in my abdomen appropriately. True, I didn't have to give up my pre-pregnancy pants until last week at the beginning of 22 weeks, but at least I finally did. Chances are good that Wulfrith is feasting happily on my fat stores and I'm taking my vitamins, so I'm not truly worried. But I'd like to meet the woman who can be truly zen in the face of things not going according to textbook during pregnancy.
This all contrasts to several conversations I've had recently, which all center around people being amazed that I'm five months pregnant and don't look pregnant at all. And I'm almost always congratulated for this, as if it were something I had any control over, or more to the point, would want. Part of it is being tall and long-torsoed, part of it just seems to the way I carry babies, and a lot of it has been spending 2/3 of this pregnancy unable to eat. But if I were to go by these conversations, not gaining weight is a good and admirable thing. I know that our culture is so screwed up about weight that people who've lost weight because of serious illnesses often get complimented on their weight. But are we so screwed up that not gaining weight when your pregnant, a time when it's important not only to your health but very much to the health of another person it's still seen as good?
I don't see the charm in being complimented for something that's causing me a fair amount of stress. Maybe the next person who admires how little I'm showing would like to take my place at my next prenatal appointment and let the nursing student worry them over their miniscule fundal height.
K is mostly better, although I was quite glad that they put a pullup on her at daycare yesterday when I took it off and discovered it was excessively grody. For all my years of cloth diapering, I have to admit that very occasionally you get the sort of diaper where it's very nice to just be able to toss it in the trash, and very very nice not to have to deal with cleaning up dirty underwear and pants instead.
This, of course, was the cue for B and I to wake up sick yesterday. Thank goodness K was well enough to get shipped of to daycare so we could sleep all day. Today, we're still tired but recovering.
We also seem to be able to eat again, which is a relief. The very few things I ate yesterday came back up, just in time for me to go to a prenatal visit today and get scolded about my weight gain. As in, I should try it sometime.
It's an odd feeling, being told I absolutely have to gain weight, especially since I spent the first nine months of last year fighting a creeping weight gain. But I feel just as powerless to make my weight go where I want it to go as I did then. There was the 16 weeks of morning sickness, extended by one major and two minor bouts of stomach flu (twice, B came home from work complaining of a "funny tummy," which would then result in another two days of throwing up for me after I had thought the worst was over). At my last appointment, I had finally managed to gain three pounds, bringing my pregnancy weight gain to -12. But this time, I hadn't gained an ounce, and I'm not sure that one day of not eating can account for that. I'm really truly trying to eat as much as I can and I'm certainly not staying away from fattening foods. I guess I need to get back to my nightly large mug of chai or hot chocolate and maybe switch to whole milk instead of 2 percent. And maybe add a bowl of ice cream.
This wasn't remotely a problem last time, when I gained 35 pounds and had my ob vocally worried about gestational diabetes when I gained a shocking 8 pounds in four weeks. *eyeroll*
I would be more worried if four weeks ago Wulfrith hadn't been measuring ahead at the last ultrasound and estimated at weighing a pound at only 19 weeks. He's also increasingly vigorous (with a devilish sort of aim for kicking a tiny foot directly into bladder) and my uterus is growing up in my abdomen appropriately. True, I didn't have to give up my pre-pregnancy pants until last week at the beginning of 22 weeks, but at least I finally did. Chances are good that Wulfrith is feasting happily on my fat stores and I'm taking my vitamins, so I'm not truly worried. But I'd like to meet the woman who can be truly zen in the face of things not going according to textbook during pregnancy.
This all contrasts to several conversations I've had recently, which all center around people being amazed that I'm five months pregnant and don't look pregnant at all. And I'm almost always congratulated for this, as if it were something I had any control over, or more to the point, would want. Part of it is being tall and long-torsoed, part of it just seems to the way I carry babies, and a lot of it has been spending 2/3 of this pregnancy unable to eat. But if I were to go by these conversations, not gaining weight is a good and admirable thing. I know that our culture is so screwed up about weight that people who've lost weight because of serious illnesses often get complimented on their weight. But are we so screwed up that not gaining weight when your pregnant, a time when it's important not only to your health but very much to the health of another person it's still seen as good?
I don't see the charm in being complimented for something that's causing me a fair amount of stress. Maybe the next person who admires how little I'm showing would like to take my place at my next prenatal appointment and let the nursing student worry them over their miniscule fundal height.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Breathless anticipation
It's very hard to be three years old sometimes, to have the ability to anticipate things but not have a real sense of time yet.
I made two mistakes when putting K to bed the other night. The first was to bring up the trip to visit my mother she and I are taking sometime in the next six weeks (place tickets haven't been bought yet, so the exact timing is still to be determined). The second was when K brought up the princess dress like the one a preschool classmate has that she desperately wants, I didn't put her off with something vague but instead suggested that her grandmother might buy it for her birthday.
The next morning, I went into her room to discover a duffel bag out on the floor with several shirts inside, clearly packed for our imminent trip. And the day was pretty much evenly divided between asking if it was her birthday and asking when we were going to the airport. It's very hard to deal with a preschooler who has no real concept of months yet. The best we can do for the moment is get across "Not now."
For the trip, we'll probably make up a calendar where we can cross off the days, and hopefully that will give her something more concrete to see how the time will pass. Her birthday, over four months from now, seems a bit far away for that tactic. I had actually been planning to start making her some princess dresses in the not too distant future but haven't had the time to sit down and sew, so I bought a cheap dress today and have offered it up as a potty training bribe, in exchange for dry pants for the rest of the week. We shall see how successful that tactic actually is. Bribery has never once been an effective technique for us because, heh, K isn't very good with delayed gratification. She didn't want one sticker on the sticker chart, she wanted to be able to artistically arrange multiple stickers on the page without being constrained by little boxes. It only managed to turn every potty session into a completely different power struggle than the typical one.
I'm rather thankful that the baby is still abstract enough in her mind that having to wait until June isn't too hard on her. Finding out that it's a baby brother and getting to see better pictures definitely caused her to have a big leap forward in interest, but my tactic of buying her a doll to be a practice baby brother managed to head off any disappointed about the baby not appearing right away (I had wanted to get an anatomically correct doll, but she insisted on a pink one. However, according to her it's still a boy doll, it's just a baby brother that wears pink. Way to fight gender roles, my dear). But all of her play lately has shifted from mommies and babies to big sisters and little brothers, and she's suddenly wanted to have our books on where babies come from read to her a lot. It's clearly processing through her busy little brain, but I'm just as glad that it's not real enough for her yet for her to start asking when her little brother is arriving every five minutes too.
I made two mistakes when putting K to bed the other night. The first was to bring up the trip to visit my mother she and I are taking sometime in the next six weeks (place tickets haven't been bought yet, so the exact timing is still to be determined). The second was when K brought up the princess dress like the one a preschool classmate has that she desperately wants, I didn't put her off with something vague but instead suggested that her grandmother might buy it for her birthday.
The next morning, I went into her room to discover a duffel bag out on the floor with several shirts inside, clearly packed for our imminent trip. And the day was pretty much evenly divided between asking if it was her birthday and asking when we were going to the airport. It's very hard to deal with a preschooler who has no real concept of months yet. The best we can do for the moment is get across "Not now."
For the trip, we'll probably make up a calendar where we can cross off the days, and hopefully that will give her something more concrete to see how the time will pass. Her birthday, over four months from now, seems a bit far away for that tactic. I had actually been planning to start making her some princess dresses in the not too distant future but haven't had the time to sit down and sew, so I bought a cheap dress today and have offered it up as a potty training bribe, in exchange for dry pants for the rest of the week. We shall see how successful that tactic actually is. Bribery has never once been an effective technique for us because, heh, K isn't very good with delayed gratification. She didn't want one sticker on the sticker chart, she wanted to be able to artistically arrange multiple stickers on the page without being constrained by little boxes. It only managed to turn every potty session into a completely different power struggle than the typical one.
I'm rather thankful that the baby is still abstract enough in her mind that having to wait until June isn't too hard on her. Finding out that it's a baby brother and getting to see better pictures definitely caused her to have a big leap forward in interest, but my tactic of buying her a doll to be a practice baby brother managed to head off any disappointed about the baby not appearing right away (I had wanted to get an anatomically correct doll, but she insisted on a pink one. However, according to her it's still a boy doll, it's just a baby brother that wears pink. Way to fight gender roles, my dear). But all of her play lately has shifted from mommies and babies to big sisters and little brothers, and she's suddenly wanted to have our books on where babies come from read to her a lot. It's clearly processing through her busy little brain, but I'm just as glad that it's not real enough for her yet for her to start asking when her little brother is arriving every five minutes too.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
19 week ultrasound
We went in for the Level II ultrasound today, the Big One where you get to see a baby that finally looks completely human. Everything looked absolutely perfect - we saw tiny little fingers and toes, a four chambered heart, a normal brain, an alternating cute and bizarre alien looking face, the cute little mouth opening, swallowing and sucking on fingers and an intact spinal column. And a penis.
So yes, we're having a boy! We were pretty neutral on the subject, although I had looked forward to barely having to buy any more clothing if we had a girl. Fortunately, I've been buying K some boys' clothes all along - the advantages of a daughter who likes dinosaurs.
To reward him for being more revealing than his sister, I will change his nickname from a girl's name to a boy's name. So our incipient offspring is now Wulfrith. Now all we have to do is work on his actual name. We had a boy's name for K, but we weren't in love with it, so we're revisiting the issue. If you have any suggestions for your favorite boy names, we would love to hear them.
So yes, we're having a boy! We were pretty neutral on the subject, although I had looked forward to barely having to buy any more clothing if we had a girl. Fortunately, I've been buying K some boys' clothes all along - the advantages of a daughter who likes dinosaurs.
To reward him for being more revealing than his sister, I will change his nickname from a girl's name to a boy's name. So our incipient offspring is now Wulfrith. Now all we have to do is work on his actual name. We had a boy's name for K, but we weren't in love with it, so we're revisiting the issue. If you have any suggestions for your favorite boy names, we would love to hear them.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
18 weeks
Five weeks into the second trimester, I'm finally feeling like I've left the first behind. I haven't thrown up in three weeks and I don't need to take a nap to make it through the day. My appetite hasn't really kicked in yet, but at least I'm not losing weight any more.
Last pregnancy, I gave up on normal pants at the beginning of 17 weeks, and had spent the two weeks before that having to unbutton them by the evening. This time, I'm still wearing normal pants without any trouble. Part of me worries about this, but the regular renditions of the Fetal Fandango I'm being treated to are mostly reassuring me. I also had to give up on a pair of jeans today when I was able to get them on and fasten them, but decided it wasn't worth having to make it through the day that uncomfortable (although part of that might have been due to *ahem* pregnancy related intestinal slowness adding bulk to my abdomen). I can feel my uterus right under my belly button which is right where it should be, but it just isn't sticking out at all. It seems like since my stomach wasn't exactly flat before I got pregnant, baby has steadily been replacing fat as I've lost weight, leaving me the same shape. Still, I'm not a remotely pregnant shape, so I still fret a bit.
Speaking of fretting, it's way, way too early to even think about the fact that this fetus seems to heavily favor lying transverse, as evidenced by the amount of time I spend getting simultaneous kicks 8 inches apart on either side of my stomach, right? Even though K also heavily favored lying transverse from about as early I as I could feel her, and stayed that way until birth? And even though the reading I've done on transverse lie is that it's almost always for a reason (uterine abnormalities, fibroids, weird pelvis, etc) and therefore has a high chance of happening again? Although I'm not quite sure why I'm bothering to fret about this, because ultimately if this fetus decides to settle into my pelvis like it's the world's comfiest hammock like its sister did, well, I'll have another c-section, which is a prospect about which I'm pretty much neutral. Recovery from abdominal surgery isn't fun, but it will certainly make other parts surrounding scheduling child care a lot more convenient. And 18 weeks is far far too early to worry about fetal positioning. This is just an excellent example of how my brain likes to not merely borrow trouble but take a mortgage out on it.
We have the big ultrasound next week, which will hopefully allay any concerns I have about growth. And maybe Aethelryth will be more generous than K and let us see its sex. It will be a lot easier to help prepare K if we can start talking specifically about her new brother or her new sister. And frankly, all we got out of being involuntarily surprised last time was a lot of green and yellow baby clothes. I'm not a big fan of surprises, so I'd just as soon get it out of the way next week.
Last pregnancy, I gave up on normal pants at the beginning of 17 weeks, and had spent the two weeks before that having to unbutton them by the evening. This time, I'm still wearing normal pants without any trouble. Part of me worries about this, but the regular renditions of the Fetal Fandango I'm being treated to are mostly reassuring me. I also had to give up on a pair of jeans today when I was able to get them on and fasten them, but decided it wasn't worth having to make it through the day that uncomfortable (although part of that might have been due to *ahem* pregnancy related intestinal slowness adding bulk to my abdomen). I can feel my uterus right under my belly button which is right where it should be, but it just isn't sticking out at all. It seems like since my stomach wasn't exactly flat before I got pregnant, baby has steadily been replacing fat as I've lost weight, leaving me the same shape. Still, I'm not a remotely pregnant shape, so I still fret a bit.
Speaking of fretting, it's way, way too early to even think about the fact that this fetus seems to heavily favor lying transverse, as evidenced by the amount of time I spend getting simultaneous kicks 8 inches apart on either side of my stomach, right? Even though K also heavily favored lying transverse from about as early I as I could feel her, and stayed that way until birth? And even though the reading I've done on transverse lie is that it's almost always for a reason (uterine abnormalities, fibroids, weird pelvis, etc) and therefore has a high chance of happening again? Although I'm not quite sure why I'm bothering to fret about this, because ultimately if this fetus decides to settle into my pelvis like it's the world's comfiest hammock like its sister did, well, I'll have another c-section, which is a prospect about which I'm pretty much neutral. Recovery from abdominal surgery isn't fun, but it will certainly make other parts surrounding scheduling child care a lot more convenient. And 18 weeks is far far too early to worry about fetal positioning. This is just an excellent example of how my brain likes to not merely borrow trouble but take a mortgage out on it.
We have the big ultrasound next week, which will hopefully allay any concerns I have about growth. And maybe Aethelryth will be more generous than K and let us see its sex. It will be a lot easier to help prepare K if we can start talking specifically about her new brother or her new sister. And frankly, all we got out of being involuntarily surprised last time was a lot of green and yellow baby clothes. I'm not a big fan of surprises, so I'd just as soon get it out of the way next week.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Relief
I have been watching the inauguration with tears in my eyes and joy in my heart. K is asleep on the couch beside me, not yet old enough to understand what an important day this is in her life. I remember four years ago when she was still a half-formed fetus of indeterminate gender, how afraid I was for her future. And now I sit with her, with her half-formed brother or sister within me and feel so much relief for both of them.
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Auld lang syne
Looking back, 2008 was a pretty decent year. Obama won the election, I found a part-time job that's adding decently to our bottom line and K is happy, healthy and thriving in preschool. And we managed to hit the one cycle in three when I actually ovulate and seem to have acquired the sort of pregnancy that sticks around.
If you look back at my journal for the past six months, you would probably mostly get the impression that I was tired a lot. That would be because I spent three months trying to work thirty hours a week while taking care of a young child without benefit of daycare, and then once we got her in preschool, I promptly became pregnant and got knocked flat by the first trimester. It's a case of appearances being deceiving - it may have looked in my writing like I was tired and unhappy, but it's more that my mental energy was being sucked in other directions. And as hard as the first trimester was, I happily (if not always stoically) endured it.
In 2009, I have three goals:
1. A healthy baby in June
2. Implement a housework schedule and do better with meal planning
3. Try a lot harder to improve our social life
Hopefully all three are reasonable and achievable. Here's hoping that 2009 brings much better fortunes for the world in general.
If you look back at my journal for the past six months, you would probably mostly get the impression that I was tired a lot. That would be because I spent three months trying to work thirty hours a week while taking care of a young child without benefit of daycare, and then once we got her in preschool, I promptly became pregnant and got knocked flat by the first trimester. It's a case of appearances being deceiving - it may have looked in my writing like I was tired and unhappy, but it's more that my mental energy was being sucked in other directions. And as hard as the first trimester was, I happily (if not always stoically) endured it.
In 2009, I have three goals:
1. A healthy baby in June
2. Implement a housework schedule and do better with meal planning
3. Try a lot harder to improve our social life
Hopefully all three are reasonable and achievable. Here's hoping that 2009 brings much better fortunes for the world in general.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Followups
K woke up with a fever Sunday, but ate reasonably well with nothing coming back up. After a two hour nap, she woke up at a normal temperature and spent the rest of the day fairly cheerfully, so I don't think the bug even lasted 24 hours. She was more than well enough to send to daycare Monday, thank goodness.
As for me, I'm left wondering if there's a specific deity in charge of applying the smackdown to people with the hubris to state publicly that their morning sickness is easing up and spending an entire day thinking, "You know, I don't feel too bad." Because I'd love to know specifically who I can thank for the coughing fit Sunday night that made me lose my entire dinner.
We had the nuchal translucency scan* on Tuesday, and everything went very well. It seems like Aethelryth is taking after its big sister when it comes to cooperating with ultrasounds - its head was jammed into the side of my uterus, making it very hard to see the edges clearly so we could get measurements. The doctor tried jiggling my belly several times to encourage Aethelryth to move a bit, but it just sat there calmly, practicing its bicycle kicks and waving its hands. We did get the measurements we needed and everything looked fine, but I'm not sure how well this bodes for finding the sex at the next ultrasound at 19 weeks. K, after all, was so far head down in my pelvis at twenty weeks that we had to go back the next week to get a proper look at her brain (this of course being the child who later turned transverse and spent 10 weeks jamming her head in my solar plexus). The first week, she was too wiggly to see the pertinent bits and the next, she had both feet, her elbow and the umbilical cord all in the way. Clearly I don't produce children who are cooperative with ultrasounds.
In any case, it was lovely to see Aethelryth again and see how it had more than doubled size in three weeks, growing from a little gummy bear to something remarkably baby shaped with a recognizable profile and limbs waving about as it practiced its calisthenics.
We are leaving Saturday to spend most of a week in Michigan with my mother for an early Christmas. I think I'm a little bit in denial about this, given how often I forget that it's THIS weekend we're leaving. I keep thinking it would nice to finally decorate the house for Christmas, then I remember that this will merely be an invitation for the cats to dismantle them and lose half of our meager Christmas decoration collection under the furniture. It's bad enough that they were stealing wise men out of the cloth nativity my mother gave K last year. I don't want to find a spit and cat-hair covered baby Jesus behind the entertainment center next July.
*Between 11 and 13 weeks, a number of genetic disorders and neural tube defects will cause a swelling at the back of the neck, so the combination of an ultrasound with blood tests at that stage provides a non-invasive way to see if there are any problems that might warrant further testing. As a point of irritation: it's explained as a test for Down Syndrome, because that's one of the most common genetic defects that allows a number of babies to survive, so it's what most people have heard of. But it tests for a great deal more than that, and I rarely see that brought up when people discuss the ethics of the test.
As for me, I'm left wondering if there's a specific deity in charge of applying the smackdown to people with the hubris to state publicly that their morning sickness is easing up and spending an entire day thinking, "You know, I don't feel too bad." Because I'd love to know specifically who I can thank for the coughing fit Sunday night that made me lose my entire dinner.
We had the nuchal translucency scan* on Tuesday, and everything went very well. It seems like Aethelryth is taking after its big sister when it comes to cooperating with ultrasounds - its head was jammed into the side of my uterus, making it very hard to see the edges clearly so we could get measurements. The doctor tried jiggling my belly several times to encourage Aethelryth to move a bit, but it just sat there calmly, practicing its bicycle kicks and waving its hands. We did get the measurements we needed and everything looked fine, but I'm not sure how well this bodes for finding the sex at the next ultrasound at 19 weeks. K, after all, was so far head down in my pelvis at twenty weeks that we had to go back the next week to get a proper look at her brain (this of course being the child who later turned transverse and spent 10 weeks jamming her head in my solar plexus). The first week, she was too wiggly to see the pertinent bits and the next, she had both feet, her elbow and the umbilical cord all in the way. Clearly I don't produce children who are cooperative with ultrasounds.
In any case, it was lovely to see Aethelryth again and see how it had more than doubled size in three weeks, growing from a little gummy bear to something remarkably baby shaped with a recognizable profile and limbs waving about as it practiced its calisthenics.
We are leaving Saturday to spend most of a week in Michigan with my mother for an early Christmas. I think I'm a little bit in denial about this, given how often I forget that it's THIS weekend we're leaving. I keep thinking it would nice to finally decorate the house for Christmas, then I remember that this will merely be an invitation for the cats to dismantle them and lose half of our meager Christmas decoration collection under the furniture. It's bad enough that they were stealing wise men out of the cloth nativity my mother gave K last year. I don't want to find a spit and cat-hair covered baby Jesus behind the entertainment center next July.
*Between 11 and 13 weeks, a number of genetic disorders and neural tube defects will cause a swelling at the back of the neck, so the combination of an ultrasound with blood tests at that stage provides a non-invasive way to see if there are any problems that might warrant further testing. As a point of irritation: it's explained as a test for Down Syndrome, because that's one of the most common genetic defects that allows a number of babies to survive, so it's what most people have heard of. But it tests for a great deal more than that, and I rarely see that brought up when people discuss the ethics of the test.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Exhaling
So I did something else on my birthday a month ago that I haven't been talking about. I took a pregnancy test. And it was positive.
I've been keeping quiet any place public because of the general anxiety of early pregnancy - it was a shock to me that it happened at all without any more chemical help than metformin, and I had a hard time believing that there was anything there at all, let alone something that would last.
But I had an ultrasound this afternoon, which revealed:
One (1) gestational sac, containing one (1) blob-like embryo measuring approximately 9 weeks, with a teensy little blinking heartbeat at 167 bpm. All exactly as it should be.
I know far too many people who've had a good first ultrasound only to have it all go to hell later on in the pregnancy to feel truly secure. But I feel much more confident now that I know there's something in there doing what it should.
Confident enough to start talking about it publicly and introduce K to the idea that she will be getting a baby sibling for her birthday. She was intrigued at the thought of a baby coming to live with us and fascinated by the ultrasound pictures, until her dinner arrived and then the pepperoni on her pizza took precedence. Priorities, after all.
I would scan the pictures, but they're truly just little blobs, with only one where you can maybe distinguish some proto-limbs. I was a bit disappointed to have an abdominal instead of a transvaginal ultrasound this time - the far better picture quality from K's first ultrasound more than made up for the personal violation. But I'm going back in three weeks for the nuchal translucency screen, so I'll get much better pictures then.
How am I feeling these days? Really, really tired and very sick. I'm not actually throwing up a lot, but I spend a lot of time thinking about it. I'm really looking forward to the second trimester.
So now I let out a sigh of relief, and go back to languishing on the couch thinking very hard about not throwing up.
On a final note, I know several of the people reading this are still struggling with infertility and I'm sorrier than I can say that you haven't had as much luck as I have. I won't be hurt if you decide you can't keep reading.
I've been keeping quiet any place public because of the general anxiety of early pregnancy - it was a shock to me that it happened at all without any more chemical help than metformin, and I had a hard time believing that there was anything there at all, let alone something that would last.
But I had an ultrasound this afternoon, which revealed:
One (1) gestational sac, containing one (1) blob-like embryo measuring approximately 9 weeks, with a teensy little blinking heartbeat at 167 bpm. All exactly as it should be.
I know far too many people who've had a good first ultrasound only to have it all go to hell later on in the pregnancy to feel truly secure. But I feel much more confident now that I know there's something in there doing what it should.
Confident enough to start talking about it publicly and introduce K to the idea that she will be getting a baby sibling for her birthday. She was intrigued at the thought of a baby coming to live with us and fascinated by the ultrasound pictures, until her dinner arrived and then the pepperoni on her pizza took precedence. Priorities, after all.
I would scan the pictures, but they're truly just little blobs, with only one where you can maybe distinguish some proto-limbs. I was a bit disappointed to have an abdominal instead of a transvaginal ultrasound this time - the far better picture quality from K's first ultrasound more than made up for the personal violation. But I'm going back in three weeks for the nuchal translucency screen, so I'll get much better pictures then.
How am I feeling these days? Really, really tired and very sick. I'm not actually throwing up a lot, but I spend a lot of time thinking about it. I'm really looking forward to the second trimester.
So now I let out a sigh of relief, and go back to languishing on the couch thinking very hard about not throwing up.
On a final note, I know several of the people reading this are still struggling with infertility and I'm sorrier than I can say that you haven't had as much luck as I have. I won't be hurt if you decide you can't keep reading.
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