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.
Monday, June 16, 2008
Friday, June 13, 2008
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.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
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?
Monday, June 9, 2008
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'.
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'.
Friday, June 6, 2008
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!
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!
Thursday, June 5, 2008
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.
Cucumbers in rice wine vinegar
Chocolate Pie
Must remember NOT to complain to Aaron when my belly hurts later.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
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.
Besides that I want an egg salad sandwich in the WORST way.
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