I felt it move last night! I sat up to get a drink of water and I sort of slouched over. The baby gave me a solid couple of nudges, as if to say "hey, sit up straight! give me some room in here!" So amazing... it's only the size of an apple and already is the boss of me.
(Notice my attempts to stay gender neutral. I can't wait to find out, but my midwife has still not gotten back to me about an ultrasound appointment in a couple of weeks).
It is so insane that I am already 15 weeks... in 5 weeks I will be HALFWAY THROUGH MY PREGNANCY. My sister was visiting for spring break last week, we made three bibs and a whole bunch of cloth wipes. My mom knitted a really nice brown, soft, wool hat. I told her to try and knit a couple of kitty ears to sew on the top (I know, it's pretty trendy, but probably the cutest trend of all time). My next project is to try and make a diaper cover. The only part I'm nervous about is the elastic, I have never used it in sewing before. As soon as I find out the sex I can start sewing clothing. I will try and get some photos up soon.
I've been trying to research attachment parenting groups in the area... it looks like they have pretty large memberships (100+ members) but scattered interest in monthly meetings. I keep hearing that my best bet is a La Leche League meeting, which is cool but I want to wait until I am a bit more pregnant before going to that. I'm really nervous that I will show up to the meeting place and find that my local chapter doesn't exist anymore. COME ON BREAST FEEDIN MOMMAS don't let me down.
The 14 month old I watch has a terrible cold. Her mom took her to the pediatrician and this woman totally man-handled her. I mean the poor baby is sick and scared, and she is being physically forced to go through the exam at top speed, crying and protesting the whole time. Her mom emailed me to ask if I knew of any attachment-parenting-friendly pediatricians in the area... I don't, of course, I haven't started my research in that area yet since all of my newborn care will be handled by my midwife. I'm going to send out the question to the homeschooler's list serv my mom is on, since a lot of those families are AP.
I have been thinking about names for the baby... I really like James Lucca and Clara Liffey but I don't want to look into the eyes of my baby and say "yikes, this is no Clara!". I want to have more options. Rosalind has always been my other girl's name, and our other boy's name is Rumi (apparently we are into L's and R's), but I want MORE choices! My friend Sam said her last baby was 6 months old before she finally named him (she wanted to name him Rowen but the dad hated the name, they finally settled on Owen). I kind of like the idea of giving it some time. But I also like the idea of being sure of my choice!!
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Sunday, March 6, 2011
First stages of nesting?
I'm still waiting to hear back from my midwife, I'm supposed to be getting an ultrasound appointment for the end of the month, to find out the gender.
My belly continues to pop out at an ANNOYINGLY SLOW rate. I can't tell if the pinching feelings I get in my lower abdomen are the baby moving and hitting my little cyst on my ovary, or something not as interesting. My bladder is teeny tiny and wakes me up several times per night (sometimes multiple times an hour). I also wake up often to drink a ton of water. I'm really scared that my belly isn't popping out because something is wrong with the baby... I'm a paranoid mom already!!! I wish I had a fetascope so I could hear the heartbeat every morning and put my mind at ease. But when I look at my belly two weeks ago, and then look at it this week, I think you can tell that I'm growing?
I am now 129 lbs which means I have gained 4 lbs since getting pregnant. Not bad for 14 weeks along! Actually, pretty much perfect. It's really hard to eat enough, and especially to eat enough protein, but gaining weight seems to be easy. I'm really looking forward to spring and summer, all of my favorite foods are in season and I will be spending most of my time outdoors.
In the meantime I have started doing a bit of baby prep.... I tie dyed a bunch of onesies! It occurred to me while dying them that I had NO IDEA what the dyes were made of, but I guess if I wash it several times before the baby wears it, it should be fine. The yellow one I gave to my dad, because his friend at work just had a baby. The ones with the green background were that green color originally, the rest were white originally. I bought some more 99 cent plain white ones to dye this weekend but it's pouring outside so it will have to wait.
I also started converting my mom's dining room into a baby play room, which means putting all of my sewing stuff into it first. I just pushed the dining room table against the wall and bought those shelves from Target. It's nice to see all of my supplies organized and easy to find, and my fabric collection starting to build! I'm going to make some bibs and diapers today.
My belly continues to pop out at an ANNOYINGLY SLOW rate. I can't tell if the pinching feelings I get in my lower abdomen are the baby moving and hitting my little cyst on my ovary, or something not as interesting. My bladder is teeny tiny and wakes me up several times per night (sometimes multiple times an hour). I also wake up often to drink a ton of water. I'm really scared that my belly isn't popping out because something is wrong with the baby... I'm a paranoid mom already!!! I wish I had a fetascope so I could hear the heartbeat every morning and put my mind at ease. But when I look at my belly two weeks ago, and then look at it this week, I think you can tell that I'm growing?
I am now 129 lbs which means I have gained 4 lbs since getting pregnant. Not bad for 14 weeks along! Actually, pretty much perfect. It's really hard to eat enough, and especially to eat enough protein, but gaining weight seems to be easy. I'm really looking forward to spring and summer, all of my favorite foods are in season and I will be spending most of my time outdoors.
In the meantime I have started doing a bit of baby prep.... I tie dyed a bunch of onesies! It occurred to me while dying them that I had NO IDEA what the dyes were made of, but I guess if I wash it several times before the baby wears it, it should be fine. The yellow one I gave to my dad, because his friend at work just had a baby. The ones with the green background were that green color originally, the rest were white originally. I bought some more 99 cent plain white ones to dye this weekend but it's pouring outside so it will have to wait.
I also started converting my mom's dining room into a baby play room, which means putting all of my sewing stuff into it first. I just pushed the dining room table against the wall and bought those shelves from Target. It's nice to see all of my supplies organized and easy to find, and my fabric collection starting to build! I'm going to make some bibs and diapers today.
Friday, February 18, 2011
I puked!
Well, I finally vomited for the first time. Just a few seconds ago. At Weaver Street Market.
I guess it wasn't that bad, there was nothing in my stomach but water, but I barely made it to the bathroom in time. I was outside enjoying the lovely 78 degree day!
I'm sitting here by my self, waiting to walk to a babysitting job. Ash dropped me off on the way to band practice with the Lizzy Ross Band. Hopefully they will hire him as their touring bass player for the summer! I coincidentally know Lizzy from UNC, she was friends with all the kids in FLO Food.
A guy who looks like Santa Claus just walked by and said, "you're supposed to be fishing on a day like this, not working!" I don't think I've ever been fishing in my life, but he's probably right.
Edit: Santa had ten minutes to kill so he started talking to me. I was drinking ginger ale and he asked me if I knew where ginger ale came from (the English invented it when they were in the middle east and they didn't have access to hops to make their regular ale). Oh, and TURNS OUT HE ACTUALLY IS SANTA (in the Pittsboro Christmas Parade and also at Lowes Food)!!
I guess it wasn't that bad, there was nothing in my stomach but water, but I barely made it to the bathroom in time. I was outside enjoying the lovely 78 degree day!
I'm sitting here by my self, waiting to walk to a babysitting job. Ash dropped me off on the way to band practice with the Lizzy Ross Band. Hopefully they will hire him as their touring bass player for the summer! I coincidentally know Lizzy from UNC, she was friends with all the kids in FLO Food.
A guy who looks like Santa Claus just walked by and said, "you're supposed to be fishing on a day like this, not working!" I don't think I've ever been fishing in my life, but he's probably right.
Edit: Santa had ten minutes to kill so he started talking to me. I was drinking ginger ale and he asked me if I knew where ginger ale came from (the English invented it when they were in the middle east and they didn't have access to hops to make their regular ale). Oh, and TURNS OUT HE ACTUALLY IS SANTA (in the Pittsboro Christmas Parade and also at Lowes Food)!!
Monday, February 14, 2011
First appointment!
I have been putting off blogging about it, since I couldn't get the photos off of my camera, but we had our first appointment with our midwife last Tuesday! I still can't get the photos off the camera, so I took a picture of one camera with my other camera, and made THESE grainy little bastards!!
This is a photo of Deb drawing my blood:
This is a photo of the little machine that picked up and broadcasted the baby's heartbeat!
She also took my blood pressure (perfect), asked me questions about my medical history (we had already done this at my preconception appointment but she wanted to go over it again), and I signed the consent forms giving her permission to do all the medical stuff to me that was necessary.
We have an audio recording of the heartbeat on Ash's phone, thanks to a little quick thinking on his part. Usually Ash is not a "documenter" type of person (he even expressed interest in having no cameras at the birth!), but he was totally on top of it because I asked him to be. He even sent it via text message to our moms. Thanks, honey!!
Here is my first "belly pic". You can see that I have a little pooch (as my mom calls it), but nothing big. Big enough to make me go up a pant size and big enough to make my bladder much smaller, but small enough that I can still sleep on my stomach. Sleeping on my back is uncomfortable though (I'm not supposed to sleep like that anyways, but sometimes you wake up at night like that!). This picture was taken at 11 weeks 4 days, or TODAY! I will probably take one every week for my own records, and only put a photo up here if there is a noticeable difference.
Our next appointment will be at the end of March, around week 17, so we can sex the baby and see Deb all in one trip to Chapel Hill.
This is a photo of Deb drawing my blood:
This is a photo of the little machine that picked up and broadcasted the baby's heartbeat!
She also took my blood pressure (perfect), asked me questions about my medical history (we had already done this at my preconception appointment but she wanted to go over it again), and I signed the consent forms giving her permission to do all the medical stuff to me that was necessary.
We have an audio recording of the heartbeat on Ash's phone, thanks to a little quick thinking on his part. Usually Ash is not a "documenter" type of person (he even expressed interest in having no cameras at the birth!), but he was totally on top of it because I asked him to be. He even sent it via text message to our moms. Thanks, honey!!
Here is my first "belly pic". You can see that I have a little pooch (as my mom calls it), but nothing big. Big enough to make me go up a pant size and big enough to make my bladder much smaller, but small enough that I can still sleep on my stomach. Sleeping on my back is uncomfortable though (I'm not supposed to sleep like that anyways, but sometimes you wake up at night like that!). This picture was taken at 11 weeks 4 days, or TODAY! I will probably take one every week for my own records, and only put a photo up here if there is a noticeable difference.
Our next appointment will be at the end of March, around week 17, so we can sex the baby and see Deb all in one trip to Chapel Hill.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Calm Birth
Last night, Ash and I went to a Calm Birth class. It was a really positive experience! The class is basically meditation for pregnancy and childbirth, so it is not a "childbirth education" class. I will take one of those in May, a Hypnobabies class.
There were five pregnant women total, three who had their husbands with them (the three first time parents, including us). Two were going to give birth in just a couple weeks, one was in her second trimester, and then two of us (including me) were three months along. Turns out, the other pregnant woman who is three months along is ALSO having a home birth with Deb!
A funny coincidence... I read this really great blog called "Sew Liberated". I found it because I was looking for info on creating a child's room Montessori-style, and this post of hers is pretty famous all over the internet for being a shining example of such a room. She also has a post about a play or homeschooling room that is a great example as well. Anyways... she was one of the moms in the class last night! I had no idea the author of my favorite blog was living in the same city I was. Turns out she also has experience building with cob from her time in Mexico, and she offered her family to us for a day whenever we get started building our cob home. How neat!
The class itself was pretty long, lasting from 4pm-7pm, but it only meets twice (last night and again this Sunday). My homework for this week is to meditate at least 20 minutes per day, using the guided meditation tracks the instructor gave us.
The first guided meditation is done lying down on your side, which is great for me since back pain is the number one reason I do not meditate (sitting meditation is hard on my out-of-shape-anxiety-ridden back). I had a SUPER positive experience with that session, I felt more connected to my baby than I have the entire pregnancy, and I even cried a little bit during the session because I felt so good and relaxed and connected. I can already feel how healthy meditation will be for my nervous system, my immune system, and even my nausea (which stopped when we started meditating).
The second guided meditation was harder because it was sitting, and I had a lot of back pain. I couldn't concentrate very well. I looked forward to trying this one with a little back support this week.
After each session we wrote words or drew pictures to describe how we felt. After the first session, I drew a pretty goofy, mermaid-looking female figure whose womanly parts (breasts and womb) were all glowing in red and blue. After the second session I just drew what my back pain felt like, but I tried to make it more positive because part of meditation is learning not to hate on yourself all the time.
We stopped and got tacos and cheese dip from Chubby's on 9th street. We arrived just in time to see probably the WORST HALF TIME SHOW of all time (if that is even possible? They were all bad to me. I haven't looked to see if anyone decent has ever performed). Seriously the Black Eyed Peas looked BORED out of their minds. Then we pretended to care about football for the rest of the game, which was pretty fun. I mean, it's a game in which stuff happens, it's fun to watch. I just cheered for whoever happening to be running with the ball, and Ash made smart-alec remarks like "Oh no! That guy didn't catch the ball" and "Hooray! That guy caught the ball!"
I did the math for the first time in a while, looks like I am working about 23 hours per week right now. Funny how that feels like so much more.
My family just reserved a house at the Outer Banks for a week this summer. "Vacation" isn't something my family usually does, either because my parents didn't want the hassle/expense when we were young, or because we're all pretty busy doing different stuff throughout the year now that we're older... but this year we are really trying to make it work. Frankie is going to request to not be on tour that week, and I can get off work pretty easily. Alyssa and Arjuna may have trouble working it in around their summer school schedule and Ash will (hopefully) have a job of some kind which may limit his availability as well. Oh... and who knows my mom could finally get a job, or my dad's job could say no to taking a vacation since he hasn't been working there very long. So... maybe only a few of us will get to actually go to the beach this summer!
There were five pregnant women total, three who had their husbands with them (the three first time parents, including us). Two were going to give birth in just a couple weeks, one was in her second trimester, and then two of us (including me) were three months along. Turns out, the other pregnant woman who is three months along is ALSO having a home birth with Deb!
A funny coincidence... I read this really great blog called "Sew Liberated". I found it because I was looking for info on creating a child's room Montessori-style, and this post of hers is pretty famous all over the internet for being a shining example of such a room. She also has a post about a play or homeschooling room that is a great example as well. Anyways... she was one of the moms in the class last night! I had no idea the author of my favorite blog was living in the same city I was. Turns out she also has experience building with cob from her time in Mexico, and she offered her family to us for a day whenever we get started building our cob home. How neat!
The class itself was pretty long, lasting from 4pm-7pm, but it only meets twice (last night and again this Sunday). My homework for this week is to meditate at least 20 minutes per day, using the guided meditation tracks the instructor gave us.
The first guided meditation is done lying down on your side, which is great for me since back pain is the number one reason I do not meditate (sitting meditation is hard on my out-of-shape-anxiety-ridden back). I had a SUPER positive experience with that session, I felt more connected to my baby than I have the entire pregnancy, and I even cried a little bit during the session because I felt so good and relaxed and connected. I can already feel how healthy meditation will be for my nervous system, my immune system, and even my nausea (which stopped when we started meditating).
The second guided meditation was harder because it was sitting, and I had a lot of back pain. I couldn't concentrate very well. I looked forward to trying this one with a little back support this week.
After each session we wrote words or drew pictures to describe how we felt. After the first session, I drew a pretty goofy, mermaid-looking female figure whose womanly parts (breasts and womb) were all glowing in red and blue. After the second session I just drew what my back pain felt like, but I tried to make it more positive because part of meditation is learning not to hate on yourself all the time.
We stopped and got tacos and cheese dip from Chubby's on 9th street. We arrived just in time to see probably the WORST HALF TIME SHOW of all time (if that is even possible? They were all bad to me. I haven't looked to see if anyone decent has ever performed). Seriously the Black Eyed Peas looked BORED out of their minds. Then we pretended to care about football for the rest of the game, which was pretty fun. I mean, it's a game in which stuff happens, it's fun to watch. I just cheered for whoever happening to be running with the ball, and Ash made smart-alec remarks like "Oh no! That guy didn't catch the ball" and "Hooray! That guy caught the ball!"
I did the math for the first time in a while, looks like I am working about 23 hours per week right now. Funny how that feels like so much more.
My family just reserved a house at the Outer Banks for a week this summer. "Vacation" isn't something my family usually does, either because my parents didn't want the hassle/expense when we were young, or because we're all pretty busy doing different stuff throughout the year now that we're older... but this year we are really trying to make it work. Frankie is going to request to not be on tour that week, and I can get off work pretty easily. Alyssa and Arjuna may have trouble working it in around their summer school schedule and Ash will (hopefully) have a job of some kind which may limit his availability as well. Oh... and who knows my mom could finally get a job, or my dad's job could say no to taking a vacation since he hasn't been working there very long. So... maybe only a few of us will get to actually go to the beach this summer!
Friday, February 4, 2011
We went to Best Buy today... luckily Ash had the foresight to buy a $44 two-year warranty for our $250 camera, because they just replaced it with a new one when the old one started acting funny (sometimes it wouldn't turn on!). But get this... we had to purchase a NEW warranty for the new camera. Our warranty was "used up" by the replacement camera. Cheapos! Oh well, we still come out on top, I basically paid $44 for a brand new camera today.
I had heard the name Paul Wheaton before, in relation to permaculture, but I just found his website and his youtube channel and there are some COOl videos on there. Seeing all those cute little chickens attacking the slug makes me really excited about getting new chickens in the spring. They make such sweet pets. I don't think I would ever be able to eat a chicken I raised, even though I know it would taste BEYOND DELICIOUS. Well, maybe if Ash killed it I would eat it.... but I couldn't know which one it was.
Speaking of chicken...I have been having a chicken aversion. This is no good in our house, where my mom makes chicken probably 3 times per week. All I want to eat is CHEESE CHEESE CHEESE!! Not just any cheese, but the stinkiest, sharpest, goatiest cheese I can find. My mom got me some goat gouda today from Whole Foods, can't wait to try it. I wonder how hard it is to make gouda? It has such a rich, smokey flavor, it can't be easy. In other pregnancy news, I can't get my back to stop hurting. I know yoga would helps tons, but I haven't recovered 100% yet, so any exercise does not sound like a good idea. I tried to take a walk on Wednesday and it ended in a coughing fit (which also probably contributed to my back pain).
The kid I am babysitting tonight has a serious ego problem. He expects everyone to bend over backwards to make sure he is 100% satisfied. Sometimes it's about little stupid things that don't matter, but usually it involves taking advantage of his little brother. Everything is a power game to him. I can't talk to his parents about it though, because they get it from him, and no parent wants to hear that from their babysitter. The behavior tones down after a while of me being here, because I don't tolerate it and I don't model it. But I'm only here once a week so every week I have to restart the process. This pregnancy has perfect timing, really, by the time I am huge I will have a reason to quit before they drive me 100% insane.
REALLY COOL STUFF. This furniture company has the MOST functional space-saving furniture I have ever seen. The coolest part is that, for example, if you have a shelf that folds out into a bed you don't have to take anything off of the shelf! Otherwise it woudl kind of suck, you could never use the bed on a daily basis. This is exactly the kind of furniture Ash and I need, since we plan on building a home that has 2 rooms (maybe 2.5 including a loft space) and need all the space-saving we can get.
I had heard the name Paul Wheaton before, in relation to permaculture, but I just found his website and his youtube channel and there are some COOl videos on there. Seeing all those cute little chickens attacking the slug makes me really excited about getting new chickens in the spring. They make such sweet pets. I don't think I would ever be able to eat a chicken I raised, even though I know it would taste BEYOND DELICIOUS. Well, maybe if Ash killed it I would eat it.... but I couldn't know which one it was.
Speaking of chicken...I have been having a chicken aversion. This is no good in our house, where my mom makes chicken probably 3 times per week. All I want to eat is CHEESE CHEESE CHEESE!! Not just any cheese, but the stinkiest, sharpest, goatiest cheese I can find. My mom got me some goat gouda today from Whole Foods, can't wait to try it. I wonder how hard it is to make gouda? It has such a rich, smokey flavor, it can't be easy. In other pregnancy news, I can't get my back to stop hurting. I know yoga would helps tons, but I haven't recovered 100% yet, so any exercise does not sound like a good idea. I tried to take a walk on Wednesday and it ended in a coughing fit (which also probably contributed to my back pain).
The kid I am babysitting tonight has a serious ego problem. He expects everyone to bend over backwards to make sure he is 100% satisfied. Sometimes it's about little stupid things that don't matter, but usually it involves taking advantage of his little brother. Everything is a power game to him. I can't talk to his parents about it though, because they get it from him, and no parent wants to hear that from their babysitter. The behavior tones down after a while of me being here, because I don't tolerate it and I don't model it. But I'm only here once a week so every week I have to restart the process. This pregnancy has perfect timing, really, by the time I am huge I will have a reason to quit before they drive me 100% insane.
REALLY COOL STUFF. This furniture company has the MOST functional space-saving furniture I have ever seen. The coolest part is that, for example, if you have a shelf that folds out into a bed you don't have to take anything off of the shelf! Otherwise it woudl kind of suck, you could never use the bed on a daily basis. This is exactly the kind of furniture Ash and I need, since we plan on building a home that has 2 rooms (maybe 2.5 including a loft space) and need all the space-saving we can get.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Good (expensive) news from the dentist.
Ash went to the dentist this morning... for the first time in several years! He hasn't had health insurance for years (and still does not), but his mom gave him $150 to go get a cleaning. Thanks mom!! The dentist said he has AWESOME teeth.... but some areas of his gums are so bad that if he doesn't do anything about it, he will have to have surgery in the near future. So the good news is, they can do one procedure and clean all the gunk out of his gums, and all he has to do is floss for the rest of his life and he will never need another dentist!! The bad news is... this procedure costs $1,000.
Of course, when choosing between $1,000 for the rest of your life or ignoring the problem and having a much more expensive surgery later... it is clear what we have to do. BUT OH MY GOSH WHAT A HUGE CHUNK OF CASH. Not something you want to spend right before you are expecting a child. Especially because Ash is unemployed still (we are waiting to hear back on a couple of leads for farm work, and exploring possibilities for music gigs with local bands).
I am ten weeks this week! I worked aaaaaalll day long today and it was EXHAUSTING, even though the little 4 month old was pretty good and happy for me. Everything but eggs, toast, and cheese makes me gag. So that's pretty annoying. My mom wants me to start taking a picture every week of my profile, but all i can see is bloating and I really don't want to take pictures of my distended bowels :)
Homeschooling my brother, day three, still going well. He is a very smart kid, it's obvious he just stopped caring while in public school. I don't think we are making him too miserable, he is extremely social and would love to go back to public school when he can, but he knows that probably won't happen until 11th grade.
My parents offered to let us work off some of our Europe trip debt through this homeschooling thing... I have to say, I appreciate the offer, the homeschooling takes up more time and effort than I thought it would. And now with this dental work in the future, it will be good to shave off some of that $2,500 (which, by the way, was totally worth it because it is probably the last traveling we will do until our kids are grown!!).
Of course, when choosing between $1,000 for the rest of your life or ignoring the problem and having a much more expensive surgery later... it is clear what we have to do. BUT OH MY GOSH WHAT A HUGE CHUNK OF CASH. Not something you want to spend right before you are expecting a child. Especially because Ash is unemployed still (we are waiting to hear back on a couple of leads for farm work, and exploring possibilities for music gigs with local bands).
I am ten weeks this week! I worked aaaaaalll day long today and it was EXHAUSTING, even though the little 4 month old was pretty good and happy for me. Everything but eggs, toast, and cheese makes me gag. So that's pretty annoying. My mom wants me to start taking a picture every week of my profile, but all i can see is bloating and I really don't want to take pictures of my distended bowels :)
Homeschooling my brother, day three, still going well. He is a very smart kid, it's obvious he just stopped caring while in public school. I don't think we are making him too miserable, he is extremely social and would love to go back to public school when he can, but he knows that probably won't happen until 11th grade.
My parents offered to let us work off some of our Europe trip debt through this homeschooling thing... I have to say, I appreciate the offer, the homeschooling takes up more time and effort than I thought it would. And now with this dental work in the future, it will be good to shave off some of that $2,500 (which, by the way, was totally worth it because it is probably the last traveling we will do until our kids are grown!!).
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