Friday, April 20, 2007

19 Weeks

Today I am 19 weeks pregnant. I had my monthly ob/gyn appointment this morning and once again Russ and I were grateful and moved when we heard what the doctor described as a "very strong heart beat." Since I have yet to feel any movement, It's nothing short of reassuring when I am privy to that beautiful sound.

It occurred to me yesterday as I watched a man leave a restaurant, put on his sunglasses, and light a cigarette, that we humans have many rituals. I, myself am quite ritually-inclined and have become more so over the years.

I like to wake up about two hours before I leave the house to give me time to eat breakfast (either a bowl of several whole grain, high fiber cereals with soy and almond milk, or a bowl of oatmeal with flax oil and a sprinkling of Grape Nuts), watch a bit of TV (either The Today Show, Live with Regis and Kelly, or The Price is Right, depending on when I wake up), read and answer emails, check stocks and some news stories, use the rest room (I like to do this before showering, and I don't like to feel rushed. I also enjoy doing a crossword puzzle so I'm exercising my brain while exorcising my food), shower (every other day I wash my hair), get dressed, and put on makeup. Oh! I left out letting Bogie out, feeding him, and feeding the cats. And those are just my morning rituals!

I won't bore you with any of my other daily routines, but I will tell you that there are plenty of them. None are really as precious as my morning rituals, but they are all a part of my day, and they are all a part of who I am.

Well, it seems to me that these rituals are in for a big freaking wake-up call when this baby arrives. I think the days of long breakfasts, long showers, and long bathroom breaks are coming to an end only to be replaced by new rituals that include feeding, changing, clothing, coddling, and kissing a baby. I think I'm really going to miss my rituals, so I'm relishing them now. They are part of the reason I was willing to put this whole "breeding thing" off for so long. One of the things that makes us feel like independent adults are the quirky things we do that make us comfortable. I think a baby is going to throw all those comforts right out the window and kick my ass into adulthood the old-fashion way.

Having said all that... I'm quite sure my new rituals will be brilliant ones. I think they will be habits that make getting up in the morning miraculous instead of mundane. I'm pretty sure missing out on a long shower will quickly be forgotten the first time I wake up to the loving eyes of our son. And I'm sure I will develop new, comforting rituals of my own whenever I get the chance to spend some time alone. Besides, Bob Barker is retiring in June, so I probably would have stopped watching The Price is Right anyway.

Monday, April 16, 2007

18 Weeks, Monday

I thought now would be as good a time as any to let you in on some of my many pre-natal symptoms. Is it pre-natal? Or just natal? Either way, there have been some symptoms, brother.

When I first found out I was pregnant, I was shocked. I always thought that when a woman gets pregnant, she immediately knows. I thought the second my husband and I finished making love, I would look at him and say, "You have planted your seed and soon I will give you an heir." But, it was not that way. However, a couple weeks after said seed was planted, I began falling asleep in my dressing room at work. I never fall asleep ANYWHERE but my own bed, or my couch if it's 3:00AM and I'm too tired to walk to the bedroom. So, this was hint number one.

Then I began having mild cramps and feeling very warm. Upon taking my temperature, we discovered mine was slightly higher than normal several nights in a row. Russ looked that up on line and saw that this was a common sign of early pregnancy.

Off to the store to buy some pregnancy tests!! We got the one with two in a package, just in case. I took the first one immediately, and peed all over the stick and my hand. The result on the test was "negative", but my hand came up positive.

Russ decided we should wait a couple days before taking test number two. So, one morning I woke up at around 4:00AM and found Russ was not yet in bed. This is very common, as Russ is a freaking Night Owl. I hollered for him and told him to bring in The Test. This time I carefully peed on the exact part of the stick you're supposed to pee on, completely sparing my hand. Russ, being a very good husband, immediately grabbed the stick from me and held it perfectly horizontal, like you're supposed to. What seemed like HOURS, but was only about two minutes later... The Test came up positive. HOLY CRAP!!! NO WAY!!! WHAT???? WHAT????

Russ and I cried and laughed together for about 20 minutes, then he went to sleep. I cried and laughed and cried and laughed and cried and laughed until 9:30 when I had to go to work. I was quite tired.

Almost immediately I started having seriously annoying symptoms. Nausea permeated my entire day, every day. I woke up nauseous. I went to sleep nauseous. I ate nauseous. I walked nauseous. I worked nauseous. No puking, just nausea. That went on until last week. My other favorite symptom was acne. Every pore on my face was filled with something. I also had lovely little bumps all over my chest and back, to the point where I couldn't wear a shirt that showed any skin at all. Luckily, Most of that is gone. Besides that, I have been beyond exhausted. But even that seems to be lifting a bit. And I can't tell you how glad I am to feel good again. I want to GLOW, damn it!

Now my symptoms seem to be slight lower back pain, residual exhaustion, and the fact that I don't digest my dinner until seven hours after I eat. Apparently, it takes a pregnant woman five times longer to digest food than it takes anyone else. So, after I eat, I'm uncomfortable for a long, long time. Which really sucks, because I want to eat a lot and I can't.

Oh, my newest symptom? Extreme joy. I wake up so freaking happy, it's absurd. And I'm pretty much like that all day. Plus, the nesting thing is kicking in and I'm cleaning out drawers and throwing away papers like a mad woman. These are symptoms I am thoroughly enjoying, and would like to endure for a while. Now I'm gonna go have a few spoons full of Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream.

Saturday, April 14, 2007

18 Weeks

First, I'd like to say how excited I was by all of your comments on my last post. Don't be shy. Keep it up! It makes me happy. And apparently when I'm happy, the baby's happy. And I want a happy baby. It's your responsibility now. Don't let us down.

I just got my weekly email from babycenter.com. It's a website I happened upon right after I found out I was pregnant, as I frantically scoured the internet for any piece of information I could find. Whether it was true or false was the least of my worries, I just wanted to make sure there were other women out there who had been pregnant before and that some of them still had time to use a computer.

So, I found babycenter.com and signed on. Every week since then I get all kinds of juicy tidbits about what's going on inside my uterus. One of the most fun parts for me is when they tell me the size of my baby. In one of my very first updates, my baby was the size of a sesame seed. This led my best buddy Deena to immediately begin using "Sesame" as the kid's nickname. It has stuck to this day.

Last week, Sesame was the size of a large onion and this week he's the size of a small sweet potato. I guess they use food comparisons to differentiate the baby from a tumor. When you're sick, everything is the size of a golf ball, or a tennis ball, or a cantaloupe. Oh, shit! They use food terms for tumors, too! Well, that sort of took the wind out of my sails. Suffice it to say, babies are far more delicious than tumors. And, in the case of babies, you want them to keep growing and becoming bigger and yummier food items. So far, I've been a fan of all the foods Sesame has been compared to. And now I'm craving sweet potatoes.

Every day I'm more amazed at my growing belly. And at least once a day I come to the realization that, sometime in September, this kid's going to come out of my body and take up residence in our home. We're going to have another whole person living here! For a long, long time. And we're going to be responsible for him! More on that later. Right now I'm just going to concentrate on eating right so that my sweet potato can grow into a grapefruit.

Wednesday, April 04, 2007

16 Weeks

I have been putting this off. It's been three months since I've blogged, but I knew if I came back I'd have to write about the main thing that's been on my mind for the entire three months:

I'm pregnant. Preggers. Knocked up. With child. The rabbit died. The test was positive. I am going to have a baby.

So, I guess I knew that once I started blogging again, it was most likely going to be a pregnancy blog. And frankly, I don't know if anyone will find that interesting. But it's going to have to happen, so why not start today. Right? Right.

I have plenty of anecdotes and fun stories, and I'm sure I'll get to them all. But let's start with yesterday. The day I officially became a Pregnant Woman.

I haven't put on very much weight in the 16 weeks I've been pregnant. As a matter of fact, I've only gained about four or five pounds. Most people look at me like I'm crazy or lying when I tell them I'm four months pregnant because no one can tell. Well, yesterday was a brand new day.

After I shower I put this cocoa butter stuff all over my belly so that I don't get the Dreaded Stretch Marks. Well, as I was doing that yesterday I noticed that I could only see the very tips of my toes beneath my gut. I had a gut!! I immediately woke Russ up to show him. "Look! I'm really pregnant!" "That's crazy", says Russ, "When did that happen?" "Just now!"

Then I was on my way to buy maternity clothes with my mom. We had planned this about a week ago just so I'd have some stuff when I started getting big. I mean, even though I haven't gained a lot, I have been popping out of my bras and my t-shirts are uncomfortably tight. So, I was sitting at breakfast with my folks when I realized I was in a great deal of pain. I quickly undid my belt and my buttons on my jeans and instantly felt better. I was going to the maternity store not a moment too soon! I officially couldn't comfortably sit in my jeans any longer.

Trying on clothes was exhausting. I think we brought close to 75 items into that dressing room. At one point I made my mom get me a bottle of water because I was so dehydrated. Several hundred dollars and many ruffly outfits and elastic-waisted jeans later... I was home with Russ walking Bogie. Now, pregnancy makes you klutzy. I am already a huge klutz, most notably proven by the time I knocked myself out and broke my nose WALKING INTO A TELEPHONE POLE!! Well, yesterday Bogie took his regular afternoon crap. I grabbed my plastic bags and began scooping it up, only to have my prescription sunglasses fall off my nose and head directly toward the pile! I cleverly batted them away with my half-full baggy, only to smear them with dog shit. Genius.

As we walked in the house and headed toward the back yard to hose off my glasses, I sneezed pretty hard. "Oh SHIT!", I yelped. "What?", asked Russ. "I just peed." "How much?", asks Russ. "More than you want to pee when your pants are still on", I replied. We both laughed pretty hard. "You're a mess", he said. "I certainly am."