It's a ...

Boy. By a narrow margin you voted for a boy. Thanks for voting.

I think I'm close. My "menstrual cramps" are getting more intense, but they are still quite bearable.

Lazy Update

So I've gotten through a week of doing nothing. Mostly. My doctor could tell I had been resting because I lost 4 lbs. in a week - all muscle mass. Great. These couple of weeks will erase all the effort I put in working out and doing pilates. Oh well. I guess it's also preparation for life with kids - things don't always go the way you want them to.

I've actually accomplished quite a bit these last few days. The first 2 days of this week were easy, the next 2 were emotionally challenging, and today it's a little better. I've practiced typing with 1 hand quite a bit. I read The Other Boleyn Girl (waiting for the Netflix movie to arrive). I've watched 1/2 of the first season of Dexter. I've done a lot more research on cloth vs. disposable diapers and am now really happy with our decision - we'll do a diaper service for the first month and then we'll buy our own cloth diapers. And I've talked on the phone and texted a lot. The kitties have been ecstatic to have me home all day. And a couple of days I actually napped and really enjoyed it.

In other baby news, my sister-in-law and her husband got picked to adopt a baby. The baby will be born any day now, just like ours, so I'll become a mom and aunt at the same time. Exciting!

So I've started to develop cramps. They are not contractions, just menstrual-like cramps that are more annoying than painful. Contractions, my doctor told me, will be a lot more painful. Next I wait for my water to break or contractions to start. Bring it on!

Help. So. Bored.

So I got put on bed rest. My last day at work was Friday. Here are the doctor's orders: lay on your left side, get up to use the restroom, eat, and take a 3 minute shower, and you can take a 5 minute walk if you need to stretch your legs. Excuse me? Needless to stay, I have not been following orders completely. I tend to linger at the table after eating for a little while and I get up often at least to stretch or to get something to do. I've also been laying on my right side a lot, trying to switch it up. The doctor said I should keep myself busy with DVD's, books, and a laptop. But it's actually hard to use a laptop when you don't have a lap to prop it on (I'm trying right now).

I talked to my uncle who's a doctor and he thought the orders were a little extreme. He empahsized the importance of rest, but he said I shouldn't feel guilty if I need to sit up or get up to stretch.

Tomorrow I'll start watching some DVD's - I'll probably start with Sex and the City and Dexter. I've also got loads of books to read; I'm starting with The Other Boleyn Girl and How Soccer Explains the World.

I cheated big time today and attended a lovely shower hosted by two friends. It was a ladies-only shower (the husband decided he didn't want to attend), with lots of great games. My favorite was "Ooops, my water broke": everyone got assigned a baby (a plastic soccer figurine) frozen in a cup of ice and everyone had to guess which baby would break free of the ice first. We also played a "name the baby food" game which consisted of items such as prunes, mac and cheese (yuck!), green beans, and vegetable risotto with cheese.

One good thing about the high blood pressure and the bed rest is that unless the baby comes before, we are inducing in 3 weeks (a week ahead of schedule). So we'll be parents in 3 weeks. Yay!! We really can't wait to meet the baby.

Vote!

So I discovered the poll feature on blogger. Please vote and let me know what you think the baby will be.

Dr.'s Orders - Go to Work!

I may have mentioned that the last time I went to the doctor, about 8 days ago, my blood pressure was a little high. A second reading 5 minutes later yielded a much lower blood pressure. When a pregnant woman's blood pressure reaches 140/90, they start to worry. High blood pressure could cause stroke among other bad things. My first blood pressure reading was 130/90. The second was 117/76. But I was told that if at my next visit (this Friday) my first blood pressure reading was still high, I might get taken off work. Of course I don't want that. Not because I would miss work but because I would have to lay around all day on my left side. That's not for me. And second, the time I took off work before the baby was born would deduct from the time I would be able to take off from work once the baby arrived. Not only do I feel great right now (haven't felt better throughout the pregnancy), but I don't have any other preeclampsia symptoms - headaches, protein in urine, dizziness.

So for the past 8 days I've been resting a lot, eating healthy, and trying to get lots of exercise in (pilates and walking). I've been eating lots of oranges (vitamin C might help) and taking 1 tablespoon of olive oil every day (also heard it might help). I've also been monitoring my blood pressure and it's been fairly consistent in the high 130/80 ranges. In general I have high blood pressure. My husband has low blood pressure. We balance each other out.

Well, now I have a good argument for not getting taken off work. It seems like I'm more relaxed at work than at home. When I first got up this morning, my blood pressure reading was 136/88. I've taken my blood pressure 3 times at work today and the readings have been 130/80, 127/82, and 136/83. So the diastolic blood pressure (second number and of bigger concern) has been going up consistently, but I am at the end of the day and it hasn't increased that much. I'm going to measure again tomorrow and take this data with me to the doctor.

As a side note, a preeclampsia story...my friend was telling me that when she delivered, her blood pressure spiked to 210/150. Yikes! She was immediately given some heavy metal (can't remember which one) to equilibrate her system. The doctors actually lost her once and her daughter twice during the delivery. That must have been scary.

Mmmm

I'm craving some fish & chips. Unfortunately, the only ones that would do the trick are from Greenwich Village in NY. Someone please go to A Salt and Battery for me. I only recommend these because it would be a lot harder to go to the UK for authentic fish & chips.

My Dreams

Another pregnancy change that I’ve discovered is that my dreams are a lot more vivid and … sometimes weird. I don’t have nightmares and I rarely dream about the baby. Instead, my dreams are more about everyday stuff – some realistic and others not really. I had two dreams last night that I remember; one was stressful and unlikely to happen and the other had my husband laughing on our way in to work in the morning. I’m also amazed at who makes an appearance in my dreams. I think most people I know have been in my dreams at one time or another. In retrospect I try to figure out why that person was in my dream. Most likely it’s because I thought about them or had some contact with them (exchanged emails, etc.) during the day.

So let me know if you want to show up in my dreams. I’m sure it will be an interesting story.

Pregnancy Tidbits

A few weeks ago, I started noticing that the baby was quite active as I was getting ready to fall asleep in bed. But if I tossed and turned during the night or got up to drink water, I would rarely feel the baby move. I was quite please with this because usually a baby's routine in utero will be similar to a baby's initial routine outside the womb. However, the past week I've been getting kicked a lot more as I fall asleep and it's getting painful. I don't know what organs the baby is poking, but they sure are sensitive. And, I got up during the night last night and when I got back in bed, I got poked. Not good.

To conclude our labor and delivery classes, we went on a tour of the hospital's labor and maternity wards. Our local hospital has a nice facility. You are guaranteed a private delivery room, equipped with rocking chair, tv, shower, tub, and lots of other goodies. You will also get either a private or semi-private recovery room. A typical stay for a vaginal delivery is 2 days and for a c-section is 4 days. Oh, yeah, I really don't want a c-section. But I guess 1 in 4 women end up with a c-section, so I'm trying to mentally prepare for that possibility.

The hospital also allows two other visitors in the delivery room, in addition to the partner. Oh, and most deliveries are not the way they are depicted in the movies - with loads of screaming and swearing. Most likely the mom will become almost entranced as she enters the final stage of labor - pushing - which can last from 5 minutes to 1 hour. By this time, the contractions and urge to push are 3-5 minutes apart.

So there's your pregnancy lesson for tonight.

Pregnant Updates

I woke up on Tuesday morning with incredible back pain. I was walking around like I had a stick up my butt. I have a bad lower back and I was afraid the added pregnancy weight and the changing center of gravity would really mess up my back. That’s why I was doing pilates up to 3 times a week, to keep my core muscles strong. While I wasn’t able to avoid back pain altogether, I have no doubt that pilates really helped me avoid it thus far.

My doctor checked me out and ruled out pre-term labor. I was pretty certain that it was back pain and not pre-term labor, but at the same time I hadn’t felt the baby move all morning and it was a little concerning. But we listened for the heartbeat and everything was fine. At 27.5 weeks, we would prefer it if the baby stayed inside to cook for another couple of months.

I went to Physical Therapy and it turns out the left side of my pelvis was rotated forward and causing all the strain in my lower back. The rotation was probably due to sleeping on it wrong and relaxed ligaments in my body (due to pregnancy). So the therapist massaged my back and gave me a few stretches to do. The next day my lower back was almost all better, but my mid-back was super sore from compensating for my lower back. I felt as if I did 1000 situps. After another PT session that included more massage, I am almost back to 100% today. Phew!

We took our first baby class yesterday. It was the infant and child CPR class. This is the class you hope to never have to use, but it’s good to know what to do in an emergency. Choking is a big concern, especially with small children. We have a bunch more classes this month – breastfeeding on Saturday and next week we start the labor class. The labor class is the one the doctor said we should really take (all others were optional), and it’s a 9 hour class over 3 days. I can’t imagine that we need that much time to discuss labor.

We are also trying to figure out if we want to bank the baby’s cord for potential future use. It sounds like a great idea in theory, but we are not convinced yet.

Pros:
Why wouldn’t you do everything you can to help your children?
There’s a 75% chance this baby’s cord could help other children we have, and a smaller but viable chance it could help us as parents and others in the family.

Cons:
The up front fee is over $2000 and the yearly fee is ~$125. Insurance will not cover any of it.
The probability that you will actually use it is small due to the limited number of standard procedures cord blood can be used for, but at the same time this is changing constantly with increased research.
It seems like a standard procedure might use up all the cord blood, thus making it only available for 1 treatment/person/etc.

The investment actually doesn’t sound that bad. But at the same time it could be ~$5000 for a 20 year investment for 1 child. The big question is, will we regret it if a situation arises and we don’t have cord blood available. Maybe. But you can’t prepare for everything, right? Even when you weigh the pros and cons of any situation and feel as if you made the right choice, sometimes the decision you make will still end up being the bad one. I expect this is the first of many hard decisions we will make as parents. It’s definitely a lot easier to make a decision for yourself, but when you have to make a decision that so directly affects another human being, it gets a lot tougher.

We’ll continue to do the research and probably ask new parents who were faced with the same question and see what they decided and why.

Weekend Fun

Over the weekend we went down to Orange County to hang out with my family and the very excited grandparents-, uncles-, aunts-, granduncles-, and grandaunts-to-be. My family threw us a baby shower and it was loads of fun. The shower was coed so it was fun to see the brother, cousins, and husband participate in all the shower games. One of my favorite games was when people would measure out toilet paper to try to guess the circumference of my waist. There was a three-way tie, and the tie-breaker was to guess the husband’s waist circumference. I am happy to report that his waist was only one toilet paper square smaller than mine. Now I don’t feel like a giant blimp. At least compared to the husband.

It was a little weird to have a lot of people fawning over my belly, giving it rubs, and talking to it in baby talk. But I didn’t freak out with all the touching as I expected to. As long as I see a hand coming, I can kind of brace myself. It’s a little weirder if I’m hugging someone and they start groping my belly unexpectedly.

We had a guest poll to see what everyone thought we were having. The tally was girls – 11, boys – 18. So if my family is right, we’re having a boy. But a couple of women my mom knows, that I would consider modern-day sages (in tune with nature, spiritual, you know what I mean), both said we are having a girl. So that still leaves me undecided. I used to always picture us with a baby boy, but now I’m starting to picture us with either.

Pregnancy Updates

25.5 weeks and counting...

I went to the dentist last week and I am happy to say that everything looks great. Pregnancy can cause problems in the mouth, such as bleeding gums, more plaque buildup, etc. But my oral hygiene has been great. Phew!

Most people that see me are surprised that I am already 25 weeks into the pregnancy. Everyone says I look great. I'm not sure whether or not I should believe them. What else would they say..."wow, you look more like you are in your 30th week"?? I have actually gained more weight than I should have. Well, that's according to mine and my doctor's plan. I am close to 20 lbs. with 3 months to go and my doctor suggested I gain 20 - 25 lbs. total. Although most people say 25 - 35 lbs. is average. The good thing is that I can still do my pilates workouts (I'm pretty good at the plank) and I can still run, although my stamina is way down.

Don't you just love the feeling you have when you stretch your body the first thing after you wake up. You point your toes, stretch your arms, and then the bloody pain of a cramp in your calf hits. If you are pregnant, that happens to you every morning until you learn to stretch with your heels flexed and toes pointed up. I'm not sure people know why your calves turn into a muscle spasm waiting to happen. Some people say it's the imbalance of hormones and nutrients in the body while others say it's dehydration. I've been eating more bananas and that seems to help. But I definitely think dehydration is a factor because during the night I pee a lot and don't drink much water. I tend to loose 3-4 lbs. overnight, and I think it's mostly water weight.

We are finally putting together a list of stuff to buy. And we are discovering that there is A LOT of baby stuff out there. It's almost overwhelming. It's kind of like the car industry, you have lots of different types of cars you can buy (sedan, suv, truck, etc.). And within each type you have loads of brands to choose from (Ford, Toyota, Honda, etc.). Well, the same goes for any baby product. If you are looking for a stroller, there are lots of options including traditional, travel system with car seat and other functions, double strollers, and a couple other more specific-function strollers. For a traditional stroller, Consumer Reports has rated 32 different strollers. Yikes! And the prices vary from $35 to $900. Double yikes. We are trying to keep things simple, so I've armed myself with Consumer Reports, a baby stuff buying guide, and the internets.

I am back to being tired a lot. But it's not the same feeling as it was in the first trimester. Now, by around 9 pm, I am ready for bed. And I am tired as if I had a long day full of activities. I can push myself if I really have to (like staying up well past midnight last Saturday night for multiple Halloween parties). And I am still sleeping terribly. I am not yet uncomfortable, as I probably will be in the last few weeks. It's different. I usually sleep about 6 hours, with a bathroom break, but then after 6 hours I wake up and can't turn my brain off for 1 or 2 hours. I'm not stressed out about stuff, I just can't stop thinking...about everything...work, soccer, movies I've seen, when to do laundry. Some people say it's practice for when the baby comes but I'm sure that whether or not I get plenty of sleep these last few months, I am still going to be tired when the baby is around. So I prefer the sleep. I'll eventually get back to sleep and will wake up between 7 and 8 am, without an alarm.

Latest Cravings

I have The baby has been craving Mexican food lately. Fortunately I can only stand it for 1 meal.

The husband calls the baby el bebe. It's cute.

The baby has been quite busy in my belly and I can even feel the motions when I put my hand on my abdomen. But every time the husband tries to feel, the baby stops moving. I wonder if the baby can tell that someone different has put their hand on my belly.

We have two books we've started reading to the baby: Make Way for Ducklings and La Oruga Muy Hambrienta (The Hungry Caterpillar).

Shopping Pains

I went shopping yesterday after lunch. Who hangs out at the mall midweek during the day? Pregnant ladies and moms with their babies and young children. I was at the mall looking for a semi-formal dress to wear to a wedding in NY this weekend. I was very unsuccessful. Actually, I did fine two really great dresses that were extremely flattering to the pregnant belly, but they were $200 each. I’m not sure I would spend that much on a dress if I wasn’t pregnant and would be able to wear it multiple times.

So I went back to work extremely frustrated. But by the evening my new shopping mission was to find a nice pair of slacks and fancy top. I succeeded. Tonight I go shoe shopping.

While I was out shopping, I also found a great pair of jeans at The Gap. Some The Gaps have maternity (and baby and baby furniture) sections. I highly recommend The Gap for maternity clothes shopping – at least for pants. They are affordable and fit great (but the length may need to be altered a bit). For nice work tops I would go to Motherhood Maternity or Ross. They are cheap and will do the trick for the few months that you need them. If budget is not an issue or you just want to try on some really nice clothes for fun, go to A Pea in the Pod. That’s where I found the $200 dress (and it was on sale). For lounge type of clothes, I would shop at Target or Motherhood Maternity.

Reality Check #17

On Saturday morning we went to the local fire house's pancake breakfast. We rolled in (on our bikes!) around 9:30 am. It was swarming with kids.

After breakfast I went shopping and the husband played video games.

Around 2 pm, we were both lounging on the bed, when I said to my husband: "You know, we only have about 20 weekends left to do whatever we want."

My husband thought about it a few seconds and then said: "That's right. You don't get weekends off with a baby."

That's right, we won't. But, despite our realization, we are both really excited. And the thought of a baby brings a smile to our faces. Can't wait!!

The Sex is a Surprise

We've decided to not find out the baby's sex until the baby is born. So we'll be calling it "it" for a while more. Actually, the husband really wants to know but I have veto power since I'm the one that's pregnant. The weird thing is that I'm the one of us who's a big planner and almost a control freak while the husband is a lot more easygoing about stuff. We have an idea of what the baby will be, but that's not foolproof. My friend was certain she was having a boy and when the doctor announced it was a girl, she second guessed the doctor.

We had the big anatomy checkout last week and everything looks good. The baby moves around a lot. I am barely starting to feel it and probably only feel the really big motions the baby has. When the baby moves, it feels like little (sometimes big) bubbles popping in my lower abdomen. It's a really neat feeling. Although the first time it happened and I realized what it was, I thought I was going to pass out from the sensation. When you think about it, it's really weird - there's something growing in my belly that's going to turn into a person like you and me. Have you ever seen the Aliens movies??? But now I really like the feeling of the baby moving around. It's most pronounced after I eat and when I am not too active.

So we are coming up with both girl and boy names. Some names that have been vetoed include Beau Flex and Chlamydia Rose (we won't have to worry about her in HS) and Therem (a derivative of Theorem). We'll probably pick something more traditional but we are having trouble agreeing. My maiden name will be the baby's middle name.

My Husband Is Not Very Sympathetic

Instead of gaining sympathy weight while I'm pregnant (as most husbands do), he's actually lost weight. He rides his bike to work every day and is eating healthier than ever (salads for lunch instead of burgers). And on the days he doesn't work, he often lifts weights with his home gym. My doctor told me to be in the best shape of my life and I think my husband took that as his cue to set an example for me. That way he can nag me about working out without feeling guilty himself. Actually, he looks really good and I'm very proud of him. :)

My Morning

I woke up this morning to the sound of the alarm clock. Ever since I found out I was pregnant, I’ve refused to use the alarm clock – I need my sleep! I am usually awake by 7:30 am anyway. I picked out what I was going to wear – black (maternity) pants with a green blouse. I noticed the blouse was a little wrinkled so I threw it in the dryer for a few minutes and continued to get ready for work. I had a teleconference at 8 am so I wanted to be sure to have my cheerios before then. When I tried to put my blouse on, I realized it didn’t fit anymore. I don’t know about you guys, but when I figure out what I want to wear in the morning, it’s really hard to change to something else. I tend to know my clothes inventory pretty well (what’s clean, etc.) so I tend to know what I want to wear even before I start getting the clothes out. I even had a dream about the shirt (won’t go into the details of how it was involved in my dream). As is expected, I am having a bad hair day too.

If I were to psychoanalyze my response this morning, I would say that the underlying issue might be that I am having trouble letting the pregnancy take over my body. Even though I am super excited to be pregnant, I could be having trouble accepting that my body has become a baby making machine and everything else is secondary. I may be feeling that it’s enough that I have to give up soccer and drinking, adding disproportional weight gain to the equation could make someone quite depressed. Fortunately these would just be my thoughts were I a psychologist and I am way beyond that.

On a happier note, my BellaBand arrived today. Thanks Sumana for the great find!

The Foods I Crave

I get a lot of questions about whether or not I’ve started getting food cravings now that I am pregnant. The short answer is no. At least I don’t have any of the "I want chocolate ice cream with pickles" cravings. Usually my cravings are pretty short lived and they tend to be quite attainable. If we go out to eat and I look through the menu, I might suddenly crave French fries or a salad with ranch dressing. A few weeks ago I really craved taco bell and had to have it for lunch. Fortunately that only lasted a couple of days.

Fruit is the food I can’t get enough of. I love and crave citrus fruit, peaches, nectarines, melons, and especially plums. Unfortunately fruit doesn’t really satiate my grumbling tummy so I tend to only eat it between my every-two-hours meals. I need to have a protein rich food when I’m hungry otherwise I will still be hungry.

I like sweets like chocolate and ice cream, but during my pregnancy I have been fortunate enough not to crave them (they aren’t very nutrient rich). I will probably eat them if they are in front of me. My coworker brought brownies to work today and I had one. But I won’t go out and buy them. If I do want some sort of a treat, I’ll probably have a croissant or a turnover. I tend to prefer the buttery, salty food that is bad for me.

The only other weird thing is that I get very frustrated if the husband and I can’t figure out where we want to go when we go out to eat. I can’t decide because the possibilities are endless (Thai, Indian, Mexican, sushi,…) and that seems to frustrate me to no end. However, once we decide and I have a menu in front of me, I tend to decide on my meal almost immediately. Before I was pregnant I used to have a hard time deciding from a menu and I would often have regrets (I should have had the quesadilla).

Speaking of food, there’s a long list of things that I should not eat, including:

Alcohol – duh, and I’ve had no trouble remembering

Deli meats, cheeses, and unpasteurized items – I’ve eaten these quite a lot, not intentionally, but I am getting better; the risk here is Listeria; pregnant women are more likely to get Listeria, which can cause early labor among other things; I also need to wash my fruits and veggies properly

Sushi – this is a controversial one and if I do indulge in sushi, I tend to eat the cooked rolls; the risk here is the same to everyone – parasite infection; the only riskier bit for a pregnant woman is that major abdomen surgery (to remove the parasite along with part of the intestine, if necessary) would be bad

Anything but well-cooked meats – again I run the risk of infection of certain bacteria that would be bad for me and the baby

Caffeine – has been shown to increase the risk of miscarriage if consuming more than 200 mg/day; I am not a coffee drinker, so no problem there, but I do feel that I have been drinking a lot of caffeine in teas and coke; however, even on a bad day, I am not exceeding 200 mg of caffeine

Seafood – there’s complicated table of what seafood products are low in mercury and sustainable and the subset of the two is pretty small; even still, I shouldn’t have more than 2-3 servings per week; this is too bad because seafood is a great means for me to get protein and keep the fat/calorie count low

I have still been eating all the time. I am struggling a bit with my calcium intake. I get the extra calcium milk, OJ, and yogurt but it’s still a little tough to get 1200 mg/day. Tums are probably the greatest invention because one little tablet has 400 mg of calcium. The only bad thing is that I tend to forget to eat 1 or 2 a day and I think they are pretty gross – chalky, yuck!

Protein is also tough. I think I end up getting all the protein I need, but I have no craving for a big hunk of meat. The husband and I were trying to become vegetarians before I got pregnant but we decided to put that off so that I could get as much protein as possible. I love fish and seafood but I can’t have too much of that.

The final order my doctor gave me was to consume enough iron. I need to have either a large handful of spinach or a 6 oz lean meat serving every other day. This has not been much of a problem. Beef is the meat I struggle the least with (at least in it’s barest form) and I love fresh spinach.

Just One of Them Days

Today is one of those days when sleep sounds so much better than eating. But it's been 3 hours since I've had breakfast and my stomach is grumbling. I'll have to figure out what to do about lunch. Blah!

The Baby Bulge

I woke up on Monday morning and my belly bump was a little bigger than when I went to bed on Sunday night. I woke up this morning and it was significantly bigger. I had a couple of pairs of jeans that used to fit me since they were stretchy and sat low on the hips, but they don't fit anymore. I need to go shopping for more maternity clothes, or fatty clothes as I like to refer to them. Oh, and I can't suck in the belly any more. It's weird.

I am supposed to gain 20-25 lbs. during the pregnancy. The breakdown is: 3-5 lbs. in the first trimester, 1 lbs. every 2 weeks for weeks 13-36, and 1 lb./week for the last 4 weeks. Give or take a few lbs. of course. This means I should add about 300 calories to my diet every day, which is not a lot of food. I've basically been eating when I get hungry and my weight gain has been what I would like. I'm at the end of week 15 and I've probably gained about 5 lbs. It's actually kind of hard to really tell because I have a big fluctuation in weight between night and morning (about 3 lbs.). Since I tend not to drink a lot of water during the night, but I do pee at least twice during the night, it must all be water weight.

My mom was surprised that I'm not a lot heavier considering how much I eat. But I think what helps is that I have tried to stay pretty active. My doctor recommended that I get at least 30 minutes of exercise a day. I go on walks or walk/runs, ride my bike to work, and just started pilates.

I used to have time in a day to come home from work, go to the gym, make dinner, and even work on my crafts or watch a movie. Now I barely have enough time to do a couple of those things. Everything I do just takes a lot longer - figuring out what to wear in the morning, unloading the dishwasher, standing in front of the stove barefoot and pregnant, it all takes so much time.