I can't believe I'm posting a belly picture

Today, I'm wearing an outfit that I could wear into the fall (thinking I would wear the same thing for each picture). Adding to that, I've had many many requests from far away pals to see pictures. I guess I should have started this weeks ago - but I'm not really one to take pictures that center on my midriff. OK. Here we go. My belly at 17 weeks, 3 days:

I guess I really look pregnant now! I have to admit, the cool thing about this whole pregnancy thing is finally being happy with the way my body looks. Or maybe more with what it is doing. My body is really loving this whole being pregnant thing. I feel great. I'm happy and excited and only a bit nervous (well, depending on the day).

This weekend was pretty low key. I hung out with Aaron, got a massage, and baked a bit. But next weekend! I've invited a couple friends up to the cabin, and I'm really excited to hang out with them, and my mom - with her new puppy!

For whatever reason, this made me cry

I don't know if it's just the happiness of watching people around the world dance and seem so happy - but you should totally watch this: Where the Hell Is Matt?

I guess it's the most watched video on the internet right now!

Random Things

Not much exciting happening here, but I do have a few random things:

- I'm ridiculously looking forward to the long weekend for July 4th. I'm making it one day longer by taking the 3rd off. We are planning on going to the cabin. I hope it's nice weather, so I can float around in the lake.
- July 7th is our big u/s. That is only 12 days away! If we wanted to - we could find out the gender. But we aren't. I could go either way on finding out - but Aaron has always maintained that he doesn't want to know... so that is fine with me. It took us 3 years to get to this point, what's another 20 week to wait? It's actually kind of fun to tell people we aren't finding out when they ask the gender - because most of the people I know DO find out.
- Speaking of gender - I really have NO opinion on what is growing in there. None. I have friends who knew from the day they found out there were pregnant that it was a girl.... and I just have no vibe.
- I've started poking around for things to buy for the baby (but I'll hold off on actually buying things until after my shower). I have a friend who is loaning me her crib, and another friend who is going to let me use her pump (along with various other things)... but I have heard more than a few strong recommendations for the Amby Baby Bed instead of a bassinet. Thoughts?

Rainy day

Today is a rainy, stormy day.... which I love. I'm also working from home - so I get to sit with all the windows open and listen to the rain instead of watching it from a high rise.

Thanks to everyone for their great comments on Friday! I was just so relieved to know everything is growing well in there! And have the doc confirm that I'm on track with my weight and all that other jazz.

This weekend was fun. It started with going to the movies and seeing Get Smart. I have to admit - I wasn't thinking this was going to be a great movie. Aaron and I love going to the movie theater, so I know it's going to be one thing we miss when the baby comes. I'm sure we'll go every once in a while...but - I'm trying to see a bunch of movies that I figure will be 'mediocre' before the baby arrives. I'm guessing we won't be wasting a baby sitter on an 'ok' movie. But OMG this movie was funny! I was laughing so hard at one point I was crying! It's totally slapstick comedy - but I must of been in the right mood for it. Get thee to a theater and see it!

Saturday was spent relaxing and knitting, and Sunday I got up a little earlier than usual (for a weekend) and went to the gym with my new maternity bathing suit, and did some swimming. I'm a Swimmer with a capital S - as I swum the mile in college and made All-American, and I've done a bunch of open water swimming since college - including swimming from Alcatraz and an 8 mile ocean swim in the Boston Harbor. I love swimming. But - with my increased girth, plus the baby belly I'm sporting in my lower belly (the one place where speedos don't really stretch) I haven't really been able to do laps for a few weeks. I finally found a maternity bathing suit in a plus size that I could SWIM in . All the others are fru-fru and just for wading at the edge or floating. But this one is an actually bathing suit. I couldn't have been happier swimming along yesterday. It was only 68 degrees out, and no sun - so I also had the pool all to myself. Heaven.

After swimming, I went to a friends house and just relaxed, sitting out on her deck for hours, catching up and knitting (most of my friends knit - I love that). And then we went out and had a nice dinner, some Starbucks, and went to Borders - where I got Certain Girls by Jennifer Weiner (thanks to Blu for calling this new book to my attention!). I loved her first book, Good in Bed - and if you haven't read it - I totally recommend it.

happy dance

Heart rate was 148 - and everything else was 'perfect'

Hurrah!

And - I met another doctor in the practice, and we really liked him. And Aaron thought hearing the heartbeat was 'cool'.

One day to go

Well - I've got one day until my 16 week check up. I was getting nervous at the beginning of the week.... but I've somehow managed to calm myself down. Also - I think Aaron is going to come with me, which always makes me feel better.

Besides that nothing to report. I'm just spending today fluctuating between thinking everything will be fine, and freaking out that it won't be.

Good times.

Anyone need some follistim?

I have an unopened 900 vial that I was going to send to Samantha, but she went ahead and got pregnant. Anyone else in need? <== Found someone... and she needs more than I have - so help out if you have any leftovers!

In other news, my latest freak out has been how to sleep. I went for a massage on Saturday, and she only let me lay on my right hand side for a short amount of time. I started thinking - I pretty much only sleep on my right hand side! So Saturday and Sunday night I kept waking up and finding myself on my right side.... and would flip over. And then lay there wondering what I was doing to the baby by sleeping on the wrong side. I finally googled it - I'm doing nothing bad to the baby - I could just be putting pressure on my liver. I don't think my uterus is big enough yet to be making any impact.... but I lost 2 nights sleep stressing on that.

I'm a freak.

The tour and a doula

On Saturday - we went on a tour of the nearby hospital's birthing center. It actually just opened on Tuesday. It is beautiful. Hardwood floors, flat screen TVs in each room. More than once it was mentioned that you could use your cell phones anywhere and there was free wi-fi. I have to say - although those were nice touches, it isn't all that important to me (maybe we could live blog the birth? I doubt Aaron would go for that, lol). But - they do have a nice big hot tub, the rooms are all private with big showers, and there is a bed in each room so Aaron will be able to stay with me. We liked it well enough to stay with our decision to birth there.

We also met with my first choice doula last night, and she was great. We both felt really comfortable with her - and once I get past the 18 week u/s (on July 7th!!) I think I'll send in the deposit and contract to work with her. She really seemed on the same page as us on the whole natural birth thing - but was also down to earth, and most importantly, Aaron felt at ease with her - which I think will be really important on the actual day.

Besides that, we had a pretty laid back Father's Day weekend. I got Aaron a few cards, a baby book that was recommended by a mommy blogger, and an ice cream machine. Not so sure on the ethics of the ice cream machine as a 'gift' for Aaron, as he was making ME ice cream with it all weekend. Yumyumyum.

I will say - I'm glad to be in the second trimester. I feel so much better! But it's also a bit like limbo. I can't feel baby movement yet - but I'm not having loads of symptoms anymore (besides needing to get up every hour to pee at night) - so - in the back of my mind I'm mildly freaking out that everything is going ok in there. I have my 4 month OB check up on Friday - and can't wait to hear that heartbeat again.

15 weeks

Few thoughts at 15 weeks:

• OMG I'm 15 weeks pregnant.
• Round ligament pain. Damn. If I didn't know to expect it - I would be a bit panicked about the sharp pains I feel when I twist a certain way. Ouch.
• It's official - I look pregnant. It's like the top (fat) part of my belly has merged with the bottom (baby) part and I look pregnant. Guess I need more than 2 maternity shirts.
• They aren't lying when they say you feel better in the second trimester. I'm no where near as tired and I've been either walking or going to the gym most days.

In totally randomness - I saw my OB at my favorite sandwich shop yesterday! I've only met with her once, and she recognized me. Makes me like her even more... even though at my next appointment (a week from today) is with one of her partners. They want you to see all 3 doctors, in case yours is not on call when you go into labor, which makes sense.

Oh - and this weekend - Aaron and I are getting a tour of the birth center at the hospital. Which is exciting to me. I know it may seem a little early - but if we don't like it - I want to change earlier rather than later. They just redesigned the whole thing - so I'm sure we will like it just fine.

Baby Stash

So. One of my most favorite things to do is to knit. Over the years, I had been collecting patterns and yarns for baby items. But never actually knitting any of it up because I wasn't pregnant. When we started going to an RE (2 years ago), I decided the time had come to start making baby things (positive thinking and all that crap). Here is my stash so far:

4 pairs of baby socks, 3 baby booties, 4 hats (one made by a friend) and 4 sweaters. There is one little sweater missing from the pile - it's in my car because I'm on a button search, and then a baby blanket that has some ends to be woven in.

I never thought that I'd actually have a baby in the winter - so most of these are not newborn size (I think the socks and maybe the blue sweater are). Guess I need to get knitting! It's much more fun to knit for an ACTUAL baby than the idea of a baby, KWIM?

Hot hot hot

This weekend was freaking HOT. Saturday was bearable - it was in the 80s but still had a breeze. I got up earlish and started some work on my front garden. I'm not a major gardener by any stretch of the imagination (I'm all about bulbs - iris, daffodils, lilies and the super easy day lily)- but when we bought this house, they had just 'professionally' landscaped it. Thing is - many of the shrubs grow so fast - they get completely out of control. And out come my electric hedge trimmers.

You may now call me Cece the Destroyer.

Seriously, I'm not that bad - but I did do some major hacking, which then involved major clean up. Which was fine for a few hours. Then we had to go pack it up and watch Aaron's team's last soccer game, and I wasn't in the mood to do anything more. So I woke up Sunday - and at 9 AM went to finish up. I made it about 30 minutes before I retreated into the house for AC. At which point I decided to do some knitting for this baby! It's super cute- and I will take a picture to show all later.

The rest of Sunday we went to the end of the season soccer pool party - in which I was the only woman to go in the pool with all the boys (9 - 11 year olds) and held my own in the super soaker battle (plus pushed Coach Aaron in the pool to the delight of all the kids).

Random pregnancy things:
- I can really no longer sleep on my belly. But sleeping on my side makes my shoulder fall asleep. So, along with getting up to pee every few hours, I'm also getting up to shift position. I guess this is training for when the baby comes?
- I'm starting to wake up at 2 in the morning, not for position change or to pee, but because I'm hungry. I've started bringing a peanut butter sandwich with me to bed.
- I have officially starting wearing my maternity pants - and they are AWESOME. I'm SO comfortable. I only have 2 pairs... so I guess I'm going to need to go shopping.
- You know that 'baby in a bubble' pregnancy ticker on the sidebar of my blog? You can click it to change the 'x day to go' to other options. It makes me feel better to see that I'm '14 weeks and 3 days' rather than '179 days to go'.

14 weeks

Today I am 14 weeks pregnant. It's pretty damn awesome.

Last night Aaron and I sat down and watched The Business of Being Born. Since this whole 'I'm having a baby thing' has started to sink in, I knew I wanted to make a full blown effort at a natural birth. It seems to me that my body was set up to be able to give birth - and I should let it do it's job. Also - I'm somewhat fed up with the high amount of drugs that I've already dealt with just to get pregnant. I'd like to think that my body can do this without medical intervention.

I have a lot of support from friends in this area - I have 2 friends that are doulas (of course they don't live close). And a college roommate of mine actually had a home birth a few years ago.

Thing I was nervous about in this natural birth quest was twofold. The first was Aaron. Aaron doesn't like to see me in pain. He loves me. And he listens to doctors as though they are gods. Which many of us do - and usually that is the right thing to do. But with birthing - your body, if left to it's own devices, will do the right thing 98% of the time. And in Aaron's family, the last three children born have all been c-sections. So to him, it's 'normal'.

The other thing? I know me. When I was in pre-op for my D&C, there was this woman in the bed next to me who was totally freaking out. Screaming, crying, everything. We had all been there for 11 hours at that point - most of the people who were in pre-op at that point were the elective surgeries that had been postponed for emergencies. I was tired, hungry and sad that I had to be going through all of this. I wasn't freaking out. I just wanted it to be over. But this woman had people rushing to her bedside, and then she got this shot of something - and she went from a completely panicked woman to calm and totally fine. And oh how I wanted a little bit of that medicine.

So anyway. Back to The Business of Being Born. In the beginning of the movie, Aaron was kind of commenting on all the negative comments that the people were making on the medical take on birthing. By the end - he was totally sold on my bodies ability to birth without drugs. It was cool. Aaron is totally on my side with the whole effort for natural birth.

Even though I have Aaron on my side - neither of us have had a baby before. No matter how many books we read or videos we watch - we really won't know what is 'normal' or 'OK'. I want to get the help of a doula to help guide Aaron and I through this birth. Over the next few weeks, we are going to interview a few and see who we click with. I may not have been able to get pregnant without medical intervention, but god damn it - I'm going to bring this baby into the world the old fashioned way!

Lunch

Egg salad sandwich (5th in 2 days)
Cucumbers in rice wine vinegar
Chocolate Pie

Must remember NOT to complain to Aaron when my belly hurts later.

Decided

We went to the fancy day care center this morning, and we are sold. We have done a lot of asking around, and although the perfect solution would be a 'live-out' nanny - the cost of that in my area is insanely expensive. And I understand that - the cost of living in our area is high - and you would expect someone to be able to make a living if they are working for you full time. But it just isn't something we can swing. The good news is we can afford this rather pricey but VERY nice and close to home day care (7 minutes from my house and 15 minutes from my office)- and Aaron was really impressed. At first I was nervous that I was looking into all of this too early - but now I know we have a spot for sure and that is all taken care of. I know of others who were still on waiting lists when they were ready to go back to work. That is stress I don't need!

Besides that I want an egg salad sandwich in the WORST way.

Wow

Thanks for all the great comments on my last post. Since I put it out there - I guess I needed to take some action on my 'making plans' for this baby!

Aaron and I have been talking about our day care options. Having one of us stay at home is not an option - so we need to figure out the best way for us to solve the day care dilemma. One of the advantages of being about the last person in your group to have a baby is that you can learn from everyone else's experience. My friends are pretty much spilt into 4 groups. Stay at home, full time day care, live in au pair, and part-time work/part time day care. Like I've already said, stay at home isn't an option, and for the same reasons, neither is the part-time work.part time day care. But there is the au-pair/day care discussion.

Here is what I'm thinking. The beauty of the au-pair is two fold. They are less expensive than full time day care, and much more flexible. The general rule with an au-pair is that they work 45 hours a week, and you have to give them one full weekend off a month. The down side is that they live in your house. Our house isn't really set up that another adult living in the house would be all that separate from us. I think that the money we would save would really be minimal in the end (you are also expected to provide them a car, which would mean an extra person on our insurance, plus obviously feeding them). I think we would have thought longer on the au-pair if we were having twins (I can't imagine the day care costs involved with twins!!!).

The fancy day care place is just that. It has the ideal setup that people tell you to look for in a day care (it was just built the beginning of this year). The staff is great. And - it's only 7 minutes from our house. I think this is going to be the deal breaker, as this will allow both Aaron and I to do drop off and pick ups. One of my girlfriends is totally in charge of the daycare 'duties' and that seems pretty brutal. No matter what - she needs to leave the office at an exact time. If she is sick - she has to drive him in (which is a 20 minute drive - so a 40 minute round trip).

So - with all that in mind, I'm taking Aaron for a tour of the fancy place tomorrow. Get his input. He is always good about asking the questions that I forget to ask and really looking at things. I'll report back on what he thinks!