Well, I'm still feeling good. Having a harder and harder time leaning over though. For instance, if I'm trying to eat soup or pasta or anything that I need to lean over my plate so as not to spill something, I get out of breath and really uncomfortable and the baby starts kicking me like I'm not giving him enough room...:) So I try to find some counter to eat at.
Martin and I went on a hike on Sunday. We are going to learn all the flat trails in the area now. We started near Teddy Roosevelt Island and walked up the Potomac on the Potomac Hertitage Trail. There was this really neat waterfall at the place we stopped to turn around. The whole hike (3.5 miles!) was beautiful. The funny thing was that before we started out, I went to the bathroom in these port-a-potties that were in the parking lot. Well, the whole way back I was feeling like I had to go so I was looking forward to the port-a-potties. We get back to the parking lot and they were gone!!! Apparently there was some event going on and so they were only there for part of the day. I had to hold it all the way home (15 min ride). It wasn't too bad but I just can't believe the timing. I had considered going in the woods too (which is actually sometimes easier because you have trees to hold onto) since we didn't see anyone on the trail until we were just about to turn around. But we started seeing a lot more people so I decided to wait for the port-a-potties...but they were gone...:(
Saturday we did some walking too. After our class, we went on a "date" to Georgetown for dinner and then walked up the hill, almost to the university.
So the childbirth class - it was mostly "this is what's going to happen to you." They showed some videos of actual births which was probably the most useful thing for me although if you get TLC then I think you would see this stuff on there. I'm glad I won't have the same view the cameras had. I almost started crying when the babies were born - good emotional tears that is. Now when the nurse described how one gets and epidural, that's when I started crying fearful tears. That just freaks me out - the whole needle in your back. My current thinking on epidurals is that I'm not going to go into the hospital and ask for one then. But if it looks like it's going to be a long birth - like if I'm still 4 centimeters after 8 hours or something like that, then I'll probably get one. I don't want to get one because I want to be able to move around and I don't want this thing in my back and because there is some evidence that they prelong birth (which may lead to a higher chance of c-section). But apparently with the latest research, the studies are mixed on the prelonging labor thing. So says the nurse we talked to on Saturday. Now normally I wouldn't trust someone on that who is so fully indoctrinated into doing medical precedures as you would think an L&D nurse is, but this lady seemed very balanced. She sought very much to avoid c-sections and she complained about doctors who induce for the wrong reasons (the most extreme being not wanting to have to work on the weekends!) and seemed convinced that inductions do lead to longer labors. Apparently, at my hospital 80-90 percent of women get epidurals. Plus, my doctor has told me that I don't have to "be a martyr." I'm not totally against it, but then my mom and sister never had to have one and so I'm hoping it won't be necessary. Martin thinks this will just lead me to be being indecisive - me? indecisive, he obviously doesn't know me at all...:) What, I've only been thinking about this for 8 months now. My decision is "be flexible." But that decision will have to be amplified at some point. Hopefully it won't be too difficult.
So, yeah, we talked about epidurals at the class. She did go over some positions for comfort and basic breathing (cleaning breathes and the beginning and end of contractions and paced breathing during.) I was hoping for a little more on the breathing end but everyone says you forget that stuff anyway. My friend Jan offered to teach me the breathing if I wanted to learn it.
I did learn some stuff in the class (like how the baby proceeds through the mother's pelvis) but it probably wasn't $150 worth of info. But I guess I feel better just having taken the class. Like I've done what I could type of thing. And this is what the hospital wants me to know. Not that one can ever been totally prepared for this type of thing.
We're meeting with another pediatrician tomorrow and then heading to MD for our baby moon! It's been a busy week so we haven't done much else on our before baby to do list. I'm off on Monday and have a doctors appointment so hopefully I'll at least get some shopping done. We have tried to start praying for our baby every day now until the birth. It ends up being more like every other day though. Hopefully we can be more frequent. It's fun to sort of dream up what you want your child to be like and pray specifically for those things. I think I've been lead to pray specifically for a heart of compassion and intelligence for our baby. I've also prayed for him and Steven to be friends. Last night at Bible Study, Laura B. suggested that we could start praying for a good wife for him too...:) You know so at his wedding we can say to his bride, "we've been praying for you since before he was born." :)
Until next week....I'll try to get some baby room pictures up soon.
Thursday, October 05, 2006
Sunday, October 01, 2006
Friday, September 29, 2006
Update - Week 34
Six more weeks! That's like no time at all! I'm still feeling great. In fact, Martin was sick this week and I did more housework than I usually do (I might have actually pulled my fair share this week!) and went to the grocery store by myself. Ooh, and I got to parked in the "expectant mother" spot. I assumed by now I wouldn't get bad looks if I did that.
I've had some lower back/pelvis pain but nothing bad. And my calves cramp up right before I go to get out of bed but I can usually stretch them before the cramp. No labor signs yet but I guess I'll be including those in the updates soon.
Today I'm wearing my one maternity sweater. I'm actually really liking the cooler weather (highs in the mid-upper 60s) since at this stage in the pregnancy that feels like room temp to me. I don't have much fall maternity wear though so I hope it doesn't get too cool. Especially next weekend for our baby moon to the eastern shore! Actually I have a lot of casual stuff I can wear for cooler weather. It's the work clothes that I will be stretched on. BUT, only four more week that I'll be in the office!
On Monday Doctor said everything is going great! He told me how great my glucose test results were (this was Dr. B - I had Dr. F tell me that last time). Heartbeat sounded good too. In fact, they are only scheduling my appointment every two weeks for the next month. I thought it would be every week. Next appointment is Oct 9th and that's when they'll do the Group B strep test. If I'm positive, which 30% of women are, then I'll have to antibiotics for the rest of the pregnancy to try to make sure the baby doesn't get this bacteria during birth. After that my next appointment is the 25th.
Haven't gotten up to exercise in the morning but I'm not feeling guilty about it at all. I've only gained 19 lbs and I'm still walking a bunch on the weekends and to and from work. Saturday my family and I went to Arlington Cemetery and walked around for about an hour - and that was a lot of uphill. I should do some stretching exercises though.
The time with my family was soooo good. I just felt like everyone was made more comfortable by us being together - something rare when families get together. We really enjoyed playing with Steven. I really missed him this week. (And my parents and sister too..:)
The shower at my friend Krista's house was wonderful too. I kept thinking about it over and over in my mind because I wanted to relive it and remember it. Seemed like everyone had fun. My bible study made the food and did the games and organized the shower. We had muffins and egg casserole (that Jen J. made and everyone raved over, click the link for the recipe) and fruit and scones and juice. We played three games which Lisa led - remember the baby items (that were on a tray before it was taken away), match the biblical mother/son combos, and guess the flavor of baby food (by looking not tasting). There were about 30 people there. Linda and Lea one the door prize for having birthdays closest to my due date. The door prize was a bird house my dad made. I got lots of nice gifts. Actually got a lot of stuff from the registry and lots of clothes. He'll probably have a new outfit for every day of his first month. Good thing because he'll probably go through more than one outfit in a day.
On Sunday Martin put up the wall hangings that we got and just last night I put up the matching valence. So we have a baby room now. I still need to wash and organize the clothes and get some more baskets for the changing table and put the rest of the stuff from the shower away. Oh, and we got some of the diapers thanks to Nancy.
Next priorities though are picking a pediatrician (interviewing one more next week) and doing the birth plan. Hope to have that done by the 9th. Then we'll need to do some shopping. We have to get the car seat and the stroller frame. Then order the co-sleeper and before that gets here, rearrange the bedroom and organize some boxes and figure out what to do with some old computer equipment. (Of course that's just the baby stuff, we also have to get new tires for one car before we get it inspected and get new cell phones and get our bathroom ceiling fixed.) We're hoping to have all this done by the 19th - 3 weeks before the due date. That week will be the last time we commit to anything or plan to get anything big done before the due date, just in case the baby comes early. I'll probably wait until that week to do the final packing for the hospital and getting everything in order at home though.
Tomorrow is the birthing class. I'm pretty clueless about this class, like what they will be teaching. The class is all day and it starts at 10am. I'll post how that goes next week. Pictures soon....
I've had some lower back/pelvis pain but nothing bad. And my calves cramp up right before I go to get out of bed but I can usually stretch them before the cramp. No labor signs yet but I guess I'll be including those in the updates soon.
Today I'm wearing my one maternity sweater. I'm actually really liking the cooler weather (highs in the mid-upper 60s) since at this stage in the pregnancy that feels like room temp to me. I don't have much fall maternity wear though so I hope it doesn't get too cool. Especially next weekend for our baby moon to the eastern shore! Actually I have a lot of casual stuff I can wear for cooler weather. It's the work clothes that I will be stretched on. BUT, only four more week that I'll be in the office!
On Monday Doctor said everything is going great! He told me how great my glucose test results were (this was Dr. B - I had Dr. F tell me that last time). Heartbeat sounded good too. In fact, they are only scheduling my appointment every two weeks for the next month. I thought it would be every week. Next appointment is Oct 9th and that's when they'll do the Group B strep test. If I'm positive, which 30% of women are, then I'll have to antibiotics for the rest of the pregnancy to try to make sure the baby doesn't get this bacteria during birth. After that my next appointment is the 25th.
Haven't gotten up to exercise in the morning but I'm not feeling guilty about it at all. I've only gained 19 lbs and I'm still walking a bunch on the weekends and to and from work. Saturday my family and I went to Arlington Cemetery and walked around for about an hour - and that was a lot of uphill. I should do some stretching exercises though.
The time with my family was soooo good. I just felt like everyone was made more comfortable by us being together - something rare when families get together. We really enjoyed playing with Steven. I really missed him this week. (And my parents and sister too..:)
The shower at my friend Krista's house was wonderful too. I kept thinking about it over and over in my mind because I wanted to relive it and remember it. Seemed like everyone had fun. My bible study made the food and did the games and organized the shower. We had muffins and egg casserole (that Jen J. made and everyone raved over, click the link for the recipe) and fruit and scones and juice. We played three games which Lisa led - remember the baby items (that were on a tray before it was taken away), match the biblical mother/son combos, and guess the flavor of baby food (by looking not tasting). There were about 30 people there. Linda and Lea one the door prize for having birthdays closest to my due date. The door prize was a bird house my dad made. I got lots of nice gifts. Actually got a lot of stuff from the registry and lots of clothes. He'll probably have a new outfit for every day of his first month. Good thing because he'll probably go through more than one outfit in a day.
On Sunday Martin put up the wall hangings that we got and just last night I put up the matching valence. So we have a baby room now. I still need to wash and organize the clothes and get some more baskets for the changing table and put the rest of the stuff from the shower away. Oh, and we got some of the diapers thanks to Nancy.
Next priorities though are picking a pediatrician (interviewing one more next week) and doing the birth plan. Hope to have that done by the 9th. Then we'll need to do some shopping. We have to get the car seat and the stroller frame. Then order the co-sleeper and before that gets here, rearrange the bedroom and organize some boxes and figure out what to do with some old computer equipment. (Of course that's just the baby stuff, we also have to get new tires for one car before we get it inspected and get new cell phones and get our bathroom ceiling fixed.) We're hoping to have all this done by the 19th - 3 weeks before the due date. That week will be the last time we commit to anything or plan to get anything big done before the due date, just in case the baby comes early. I'll probably wait until that week to do the final packing for the hospital and getting everything in order at home though.
Tomorrow is the birthing class. I'm pretty clueless about this class, like what they will be teaching. The class is all day and it starts at 10am. I'll post how that goes next week. Pictures soon....
My colleagues
Update coming soon but I just had to post about my co-workers first. So you may know that I work mostly with men. The one other female in my office (of 11 people) is my boss's secretary. And half of these men are not married. And half of those who are do not have kids. So this whole me having a baby thing is a whole new realm for some of these guys. One way they try to relate is asking me if I have any dietary restrictions (which has literally happened at the last 3 weekly staff lunch meetings). Another guy always asks me how "everyone" is doing. At this point in my pregnancy, this stuff really cracks me up. Today, though, I have a story that takes the cake. This also goes to my never-ending saga about not looking pregnant or at this point, pregnant enough. So I go out for a walk at lunch to go to the bank and to get a vanilla bean (no caffeine) frap and on the way I run into a former co-worker of mine. He's in the never-been-married-no-kids-almost-50 category like most of my current co-workers. (Not that there's anything wrong with that, it just colors the story in a little for you.) Okay, so I meet him on the sidewalk and we exchange our "hi, how are yous" and then he looks and me and is like "so what happened?" And I'm like "what happened with what?" In making the next statement he seemed to need a little bit of courage (or going out on a limb on his part): he says, "so when is your due date?" I tell him and then he's like "oh, so you didn't have the baby yet." Two months ago, I had lunch with the same guy and he thought I was 3 months along and I told him I was 6 months pregnant. So somehow he thought in that time I had the baby and was back to work. He then tells me "well, you're not that big." I say yes, I know, I've been told that's a good thing. I guess he was trying to say he had a good excuse for thinking that just by seeing me. Anyway, I got a real kick out of that one.
Friday, September 22, 2006
Thursday, September 21, 2006
Update - Week 33
Gotta get my post up before blogger's "scheduled outage" at 4pm (oh, it's pacific time, I guess I have lots of time).
Anyway, what a week. So breastfeeding class went well. Not sure I learned that much new (most of what was covered I had already read in "So That's What They're For!") but it was good to hear it again and be able to ask questions. I think sometimes you don't think to ask questions until you hear something the second time. And it was good for Martin to learn. Okay, maybe I'm just trying to justify the $50 we spent on the class. Hopefully we'll get re-embursed by our insurance company. I've heard that we get $50 for classes.
Friday we finished organizing the spare bedroom/baby room. And Saturday morning Martin and Mike moved the desk out. That desk took up a lot of space. And it looks better in the living room so I'm happy with the change.
Went to a baby shower for another Heather on Saturday. Someone asked me if baby showers took on a new meaning now that I was pregnant. Not really. I haven't been to that many baby showers I guess. I can only think of 7 (Melissa, Jen L., Nancy, Catherine, Laura H., Carrie, and a gal from my church when I was in State College). Those were all in the last 6 years. Only 4 were after I got married. I also went to a few cousins' baby showers when I was little. I threw a temper tantrum at one because I wanted to play the games but I couldn't write fast enough to keep up with the moderator. Okay, sorry, tangent....but yeah, it wasn't that different except that I knew better what to buy. And was able to be more engaged in the conversation. I guess it made me look forward more towards mine too. But still doesn't feel real yet. This will be MY baby shower on Saturday. Like I'M having a kid. I still don't feel old enough to be a mom. Not sure I ever would have.
More about showers....so Krista (the gal hosting my shower) said there are 27 people coming to the shower. She said that like makes it the "mother of all showers." Now, for those of you from western PA, you're like "What?" and your amazed that people have showers at their houses. So let me paint the picture of a NVA shower (although I've seen this in State College and MD too). Typically, you have about 15 women at someone's house sipping tea and mimosas (except the mom-to-be) and eating fresh fruit and pastries. There may or may not be some kind of game and then of course the presents. But very intimate. Yet, somewhat dressy in that you'll often see women in skirts and heels. Oh, and they're often held in the morning as opposed to the afternoon. So contrast that with the western PA shower - at least 40 women (I've seen ones up to 80 women) sitting at rows of tables in a church fellowship hall eating a full lunch buffet (of the standard "shower" menu - cold cuts and buns, rigatoni, fried chicken, cake, and a ton of other food). Here each woman has been given a printed program with games and a pencil. There are some sort of mints or candy on the table in a baby bottle or bootie-shaped container. The shower last for about 3 hours at least because of all the time needed to open all the presents. I love both types....so I think I'll have one of each...:) Just kidding mom, we won't have a 40 people at the next one. Anyway, looking forward to Saturday.....
Went to Babies R Us on Saturday. Got the pack and play and car seat base. Sunday we moved the changing table in and moved the second desk to John and Laura's when my parents got here. The changing table is great! I'll post some pics soon. It really matches the room. Just need to get some baskets for it. But now we have a place for baby stuff. Didn't get to rearrange our bedroom but we have a little bit of time for that yet. We set up the pack and play in the living room for Steven while he is here. We're seeing how it all will look....
Went for a 2-mile walk on Sunday. And a little walk Monday night. That's about all in the way of exercise. :( But I'm still feeling well and haven't lost my energy yet. I do have some lower back/pelvic pain/pressure. All normal stuff but just annoying. Bending over is getting really hard too. That's especially annoying because I'm turning into more of a klutz than I normally am. So Martin graciously follows me around and picks stuff up for me. He's a great husband. He even does it joyfully.
I did have one hormonal moment on Sunday. I wanted to use the Internet and Martin was using it. I waited until he was done but when I went to log on the Internet was down. I all crabby about it and jealous that Martin got to use it but not me even though I waited patiently and had thing to take care of on the computer that were SO much more important than what he was doing. (This wasn't the first time that he'd log off and I would try to log on and it wouldn't work. But apparently it's Cox Cable and not me logging in.) But I got over it eventually. And Martin is very understanding....
Monday my mom cleaned our entire house and did quite a bit of ironing for me. She rocks. Oh, and she waited at our house for the dry wall guy to come and give us an estimate on fixing the bathroom ceiling. $500 and that includes painting. Not bad but our deductible on our insurance is $500 so we're paying for everything now.
Tuesday Carrie and Steven arrived and my dad came back down. Steven is so adorable and big now. (Yes, I know, pictures soon.) Steven didn't have a very good day yesterday though. He got a fever and my parents and sister actually took him to the ER here in Fairfax. They spent 7 hours there last night. Looks like he has an ear infection. Although it took a bunch of un-fun tests to figure that out. Please pray that he gets well soon. My parents and sister really were impressed with the doctors here. That's good to know.
Other than that, the only baby prep stuff we accomplished this week was (I think) deciding on a name. We have something to go with that I'm good with and Martin really likes. Still aren't going to tell in case we want to change it (and we've been advised not to hear opinions...:) but I think you all will like it. It actually only breaks one of my "rules." You know - must be two syllables, can't be shortened, can't start with a vowel, can't have a T, R, or N in the second syllable.
Only about another 7 weeks and you'll all find out...:)
Anyway, what a week. So breastfeeding class went well. Not sure I learned that much new (most of what was covered I had already read in "So That's What They're For!") but it was good to hear it again and be able to ask questions. I think sometimes you don't think to ask questions until you hear something the second time. And it was good for Martin to learn. Okay, maybe I'm just trying to justify the $50 we spent on the class. Hopefully we'll get re-embursed by our insurance company. I've heard that we get $50 for classes.
Friday we finished organizing the spare bedroom/baby room. And Saturday morning Martin and Mike moved the desk out. That desk took up a lot of space. And it looks better in the living room so I'm happy with the change.
Went to a baby shower for another Heather on Saturday. Someone asked me if baby showers took on a new meaning now that I was pregnant. Not really. I haven't been to that many baby showers I guess. I can only think of 7 (Melissa, Jen L., Nancy, Catherine, Laura H., Carrie, and a gal from my church when I was in State College). Those were all in the last 6 years. Only 4 were after I got married. I also went to a few cousins' baby showers when I was little. I threw a temper tantrum at one because I wanted to play the games but I couldn't write fast enough to keep up with the moderator. Okay, sorry, tangent....but yeah, it wasn't that different except that I knew better what to buy. And was able to be more engaged in the conversation. I guess it made me look forward more towards mine too. But still doesn't feel real yet. This will be MY baby shower on Saturday. Like I'M having a kid. I still don't feel old enough to be a mom. Not sure I ever would have.
More about showers....so Krista (the gal hosting my shower) said there are 27 people coming to the shower. She said that like makes it the "mother of all showers." Now, for those of you from western PA, you're like "What?" and your amazed that people have showers at their houses. So let me paint the picture of a NVA shower (although I've seen this in State College and MD too). Typically, you have about 15 women at someone's house sipping tea and mimosas (except the mom-to-be) and eating fresh fruit and pastries. There may or may not be some kind of game and then of course the presents. But very intimate. Yet, somewhat dressy in that you'll often see women in skirts and heels. Oh, and they're often held in the morning as opposed to the afternoon. So contrast that with the western PA shower - at least 40 women (I've seen ones up to 80 women) sitting at rows of tables in a church fellowship hall eating a full lunch buffet (of the standard "shower" menu - cold cuts and buns, rigatoni, fried chicken, cake, and a ton of other food). Here each woman has been given a printed program with games and a pencil. There are some sort of mints or candy on the table in a baby bottle or bootie-shaped container. The shower last for about 3 hours at least because of all the time needed to open all the presents. I love both types....so I think I'll have one of each...:) Just kidding mom, we won't have a 40 people at the next one. Anyway, looking forward to Saturday.....
Went to Babies R Us on Saturday. Got the pack and play and car seat base. Sunday we moved the changing table in and moved the second desk to John and Laura's when my parents got here. The changing table is great! I'll post some pics soon. It really matches the room. Just need to get some baskets for it. But now we have a place for baby stuff. Didn't get to rearrange our bedroom but we have a little bit of time for that yet. We set up the pack and play in the living room for Steven while he is here. We're seeing how it all will look....
Went for a 2-mile walk on Sunday. And a little walk Monday night. That's about all in the way of exercise. :( But I'm still feeling well and haven't lost my energy yet. I do have some lower back/pelvic pain/pressure. All normal stuff but just annoying. Bending over is getting really hard too. That's especially annoying because I'm turning into more of a klutz than I normally am. So Martin graciously follows me around and picks stuff up for me. He's a great husband. He even does it joyfully.
I did have one hormonal moment on Sunday. I wanted to use the Internet and Martin was using it. I waited until he was done but when I went to log on the Internet was down. I all crabby about it and jealous that Martin got to use it but not me even though I waited patiently and had thing to take care of on the computer that were SO much more important than what he was doing. (This wasn't the first time that he'd log off and I would try to log on and it wouldn't work. But apparently it's Cox Cable and not me logging in.) But I got over it eventually. And Martin is very understanding....
Monday my mom cleaned our entire house and did quite a bit of ironing for me. She rocks. Oh, and she waited at our house for the dry wall guy to come and give us an estimate on fixing the bathroom ceiling. $500 and that includes painting. Not bad but our deductible on our insurance is $500 so we're paying for everything now.
Tuesday Carrie and Steven arrived and my dad came back down. Steven is so adorable and big now. (Yes, I know, pictures soon.) Steven didn't have a very good day yesterday though. He got a fever and my parents and sister actually took him to the ER here in Fairfax. They spent 7 hours there last night. Looks like he has an ear infection. Although it took a bunch of un-fun tests to figure that out. Please pray that he gets well soon. My parents and sister really were impressed with the doctors here. That's good to know.
Other than that, the only baby prep stuff we accomplished this week was (I think) deciding on a name. We have something to go with that I'm good with and Martin really likes. Still aren't going to tell in case we want to change it (and we've been advised not to hear opinions...:) but I think you all will like it. It actually only breaks one of my "rules." You know - must be two syllables, can't be shortened, can't start with a vowel, can't have a T, R, or N in the second syllable.
Only about another 7 weeks and you'll all find out...:)
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Victory!
I finally was given a seat on the metro last night! Okay, so the guy was getting off in one more stop and he was a pretty big guy sitting next to a pretty big lady so he was probably relieved to get up BUT he was clearly getting up for me. I was wearing the red dress that I had on in a previous posting's photo which is form fitting. If I have on what I have on today (skirt and loose button-down blouse) I don't think I would get one. Well see though. I'm only going to be riding the metro for 5 and a half more weeks!
Saturday, September 16, 2006
Thursday, September 14, 2006
Update - Week 32
Wow, 8 months pregnant. Craziness. There's only 8 more weeks until the due date, and realizing the baby could be here in 6 weeks (like that's no time!) is pretty scary and exciting. These next two weeks will really make things seem more real too. This weekend we are rearranging furniture and getting the changing table that my dad made for us. After much deliberation as to where to put the extra desk, we're going to creatively store it at our friends'(John and Laura's) house. They just moved from a one bedroom condo to a three bedroom townhouse with a basement so they have some extra room for furniture. Our friend Mikey is coming over on Saturday to move the desk and rearrange our bedroom furniture with Martin.
I think we're coming down to a decision on the name. I think I'm acquiescing to the name Martin likes but I'm going to try to leverage my concession by choosing the middle name, names of potential future children, and getting some new purchases for the house that I want.....:)
Tonight is the breastfeeding class. Both Martin and I have been reading up on how to prepare for the birth and breastfeeding. Not that we think we'll be totally prepared but knowledge is helpful indeed.
I'm feeling really great still. No heartburn or cramping or anything. I feel a little creaky when I get up after sitting for a while but usually I can walk that off. Didn't get to exercise much this week. Well, I was on my feet most of the day on Saturday since I was helping out at a wedding and then in the evening we went out to eat with some friends in Old Town and walked around there before and afterwards. So that was my exercise. But it wouldn't be hard to get out of bed a half hour earlier (6 instead of 6:30) and exercise. I need to get back into that groove.
Not much more to update on. Most things are where they were last week. Although we do have someone coming in on Monday to give us an estimate of the repairs needed in our bathroom from the leak we had.
Looking forward to having my mom and Carrie and Steven here next week. Taking Mom to Babies R Us on Monday night. Carrie and Steven arrive on Tuesday and are staying at a hotel near us (on government's dime). Then we'll have everyone at our place Friday and Saturday night. Carrie said she's already bringing us baby clothes that Steven has grown out of.
I'll try to get a picture up soon.
I think we're coming down to a decision on the name. I think I'm acquiescing to the name Martin likes but I'm going to try to leverage my concession by choosing the middle name, names of potential future children, and getting some new purchases for the house that I want.....:)
Tonight is the breastfeeding class. Both Martin and I have been reading up on how to prepare for the birth and breastfeeding. Not that we think we'll be totally prepared but knowledge is helpful indeed.
I'm feeling really great still. No heartburn or cramping or anything. I feel a little creaky when I get up after sitting for a while but usually I can walk that off. Didn't get to exercise much this week. Well, I was on my feet most of the day on Saturday since I was helping out at a wedding and then in the evening we went out to eat with some friends in Old Town and walked around there before and afterwards. So that was my exercise. But it wouldn't be hard to get out of bed a half hour earlier (6 instead of 6:30) and exercise. I need to get back into that groove.
Not much more to update on. Most things are where they were last week. Although we do have someone coming in on Monday to give us an estimate of the repairs needed in our bathroom from the leak we had.
Looking forward to having my mom and Carrie and Steven here next week. Taking Mom to Babies R Us on Monday night. Carrie and Steven arrive on Tuesday and are staying at a hotel near us (on government's dime). Then we'll have everyone at our place Friday and Saturday night. Carrie said she's already bringing us baby clothes that Steven has grown out of.
I'll try to get a picture up soon.
Thursday, September 07, 2006
Update - Week 31
This week went by quickly. I"m still feeling great. Little lower back pain but that's all. My friend Laura B. was right, even when you look pregnant you still don't get a seat on metro. Didn't get one this morning. It was ridiculous.
We did get out of work early on Friday so I was able to go shopping on Friday afternoon, in the hurricane. I got a white maternity blouse that I had been looking for for a while, some nursing bras (although I think I might return them - not sure the size is right), and some other things. Mostly successful shopping trip.
Saturday I got some more organizing done around the house and I went to the class at the gym (which I just realized I won't be able to go to until Oct. 14th. - so I think I'm back to the workout tapes). Also organized on Monday too. It's not getting me down like before, I guess because I'm making progress now. And on Sunday I started organizing pictures which was not really on the priority list but more fun than organizing old mail.
Martin and I went to the portrait gallery and out to eat on Saturday instead of the picnic. Although we probably could have still had the picnic since the rain stopped around that time. But we still had fun.
Wednesday I stayed home the whole day from work. I was just going to take 2 hours off for the pediatrician appointment but then we got a hold of the plumber to tell him that the ceiling was still leaking and he was able to come Wednesday morning. We weren't sure how long it would take and Martin was busy at work so I just stayed home. The plumber found the leak (after cutting 2 holes in our ceiling) and fixed it in about an hour, leaving a big mess to clean up. It was actually one of our pipes, which is good in the sense that we don't need to involve the neighbor who just lost her job and doesn't have homeowners insurance. All the dry wall in the ceiling and probably some of the wall is going to need to be replaced. Insurance won't cover the plumber (although he was only $80) but they will pay for the dry wall after our $500 deductable. We'll have to see how much it's going to be.
The meeting with the pediatrician was fun. He was about our age and we were asking about his philosophy of treatment (agressive vs. conservative, sort of like is he going to want to give our child medication all the time or be willing to wait and see or consider other remedies). So he starts out by saying "I don't know how much you know about economics, but...." and after I tell him I'm economist he continues with, "well you know, you want to find the place where marginal cost equals marginal benefit." We liked the guy although we are going to check out one more practice that someone else recommended. The waiting room at this place was a little small and if we ever move closer to Martin's work, this place will be farther for us. Oh, and the funny thing is there's this restaurant/diner in the same building that you have to go past to get to the office. They have these big advertisements for ice cream as you walk by. I can just see it now..."mommy, can we get ice cream?....after we see the doctor and only if you are brave and get your shots." Who am I kidding, I'm the one that will want the ice cream!
Had a little taste of working part-time this week with having Monday off and taking Wednesday off. It's nice not commuting. The neigbborhood is really quiet during the day.
Been reading "So That's What They're For" - a book on breastfeeding. I have one more on breastfeeding to read too and a class on the 14th.
I asked Martin to do some reading too, just so he knows what's going to be happening during the whole birth/labor process. It's going to be a lot easier for me if he knows what's going on and what's normal and what's not so he can comfort me during the time rather than me try to explain to him what's going on then.
Picked out the cloth diapers today. $130 and that should last for the first 4-6 months. Very excited about those numbers.
Martin and I decided to rearrange our bedroom so that the baby won't be by the window where it's colder (this was the more likable option rather than switching sides of the bed). Hopefully we can do that and move the desk out of the 2nd bedroom before my parents come with the changing table on the 17th. That gives me a little over a week to finish re-organizing. That would be so great to be done by then. Because that's when all the baby stuff is going to start coming in.
We did get out of work early on Friday so I was able to go shopping on Friday afternoon, in the hurricane. I got a white maternity blouse that I had been looking for for a while, some nursing bras (although I think I might return them - not sure the size is right), and some other things. Mostly successful shopping trip.
Saturday I got some more organizing done around the house and I went to the class at the gym (which I just realized I won't be able to go to until Oct. 14th. - so I think I'm back to the workout tapes). Also organized on Monday too. It's not getting me down like before, I guess because I'm making progress now. And on Sunday I started organizing pictures which was not really on the priority list but more fun than organizing old mail.
Martin and I went to the portrait gallery and out to eat on Saturday instead of the picnic. Although we probably could have still had the picnic since the rain stopped around that time. But we still had fun.
Wednesday I stayed home the whole day from work. I was just going to take 2 hours off for the pediatrician appointment but then we got a hold of the plumber to tell him that the ceiling was still leaking and he was able to come Wednesday morning. We weren't sure how long it would take and Martin was busy at work so I just stayed home. The plumber found the leak (after cutting 2 holes in our ceiling) and fixed it in about an hour, leaving a big mess to clean up. It was actually one of our pipes, which is good in the sense that we don't need to involve the neighbor who just lost her job and doesn't have homeowners insurance. All the dry wall in the ceiling and probably some of the wall is going to need to be replaced. Insurance won't cover the plumber (although he was only $80) but they will pay for the dry wall after our $500 deductable. We'll have to see how much it's going to be.
The meeting with the pediatrician was fun. He was about our age and we were asking about his philosophy of treatment (agressive vs. conservative, sort of like is he going to want to give our child medication all the time or be willing to wait and see or consider other remedies). So he starts out by saying "I don't know how much you know about economics, but...." and after I tell him I'm economist he continues with, "well you know, you want to find the place where marginal cost equals marginal benefit." We liked the guy although we are going to check out one more practice that someone else recommended. The waiting room at this place was a little small and if we ever move closer to Martin's work, this place will be farther for us. Oh, and the funny thing is there's this restaurant/diner in the same building that you have to go past to get to the office. They have these big advertisements for ice cream as you walk by. I can just see it now..."mommy, can we get ice cream?....after we see the doctor and only if you are brave and get your shots." Who am I kidding, I'm the one that will want the ice cream!
Had a little taste of working part-time this week with having Monday off and taking Wednesday off. It's nice not commuting. The neigbborhood is really quiet during the day.
Been reading "So That's What They're For" - a book on breastfeeding. I have one more on breastfeeding to read too and a class on the 14th.
I asked Martin to do some reading too, just so he knows what's going to be happening during the whole birth/labor process. It's going to be a lot easier for me if he knows what's going on and what's normal and what's not so he can comfort me during the time rather than me try to explain to him what's going on then.
Picked out the cloth diapers today. $130 and that should last for the first 4-6 months. Very excited about those numbers.
Martin and I decided to rearrange our bedroom so that the baby won't be by the window where it's colder (this was the more likable option rather than switching sides of the bed). Hopefully we can do that and move the desk out of the 2nd bedroom before my parents come with the changing table on the 17th. That gives me a little over a week to finish re-organizing. That would be so great to be done by then. Because that's when all the baby stuff is going to start coming in.
Thursday, August 31, 2006
Update - Week 30
Wow week 30! I feel like I'm really pregnant now. Our little one is kicking up a storm. Sometimes it makes my whole body move. Sometimes it hurts, sometimes he kicks my ribs.
I'm still feeling really good. And when I saw the doctor yesterday he said I passed the glucose test with "flying colors" - they were looking for something 140 and below and mine was 69 and he said there was nothing for him to tell me to do since, after going through all my stats (weight gain, protein and iron levels, bp, etc.) he said "you can't improve upon this." When he felt my tummy for the baby he told me where his head, spine, bottom and limbs were and then said "this is where babies normally are at this point in the pregnancy." The baby's heart rate was about 130. So the baby and me are completely normal. I guess after hearing so many problems all the time it's hard to believe these things ever go perfectly well. But so far so good! Praise the Lord!
Martin and I went on a church retreat last weekend. I did some hiking there and hung out in the pool but didn't really swim too much. I was just trying to cool my body temp down since the place didn't have air conditioning.
Hoping to go to the gym and do some shopping this weekend. Martin and I are also hoping to have a romantic picnic dinner on the Potamac Saturday evening. We'll see if the rain holds off.
Got the software for my computer at home that I need to log into the system at work so I can telework. Now I have to do a bunch of paperwork for that.
We received more gifts this week. It becomes more real every day.
My OBGYN
So my doctors are on the front page of the Washington Post (WaPo) today! For good reason though - although it must be a slow news day. Anyway, if you get the chance to check it out in hard copy, you'll see 2 of my 3 doctors (i.e. one of whom will probably be delivering our child!) - the guy with the beard and the woman in red. And then on the inside page you'll see nurse Jean who I really like. But there are no pictures online.
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Boy/Girl Count
Today I found out that my friend Laura H. is having a boy too. (Yeah!) Seems like everyone is having a boy these days. But then I thought of all my blogging friends who have kids. Most of you all have girls (Nancy 2, Melissa S. 2, Jen L. 1, Catherine 1). But most all my friends from church and my grad school friends that are having kids have / are having boys (Krista 3, Laura H. 2, Laura B. 1, The Mills' 4, us 1). Laura H. said it must be the water. Well, it must be the Northern Virginia water. All those having girls are not in NVA. All those having boys are in NVA. This holds true with the Winstons too who have one girl, born in PA, and one boy, born in NVA. But then the Mills' and Larissa screw up my perfectly fit data because the first two of the Mills' boys were born in PA and IN and Larissa's boy was born in PA. But I can still draw some conclusions here: The likelihood of having a girl in NVA is nil. But moving from NVA to PA or IN would not guarantee having a girl either. Maybe MD.... Granted I need a few more data points here (but 20 isn't bad!), but I have some friends who are pregnant and not finding out so I have some more data coming in. Might be able to get some more solid conclusions then.
Thursday, August 24, 2006
Update - Week 29
Still feeling good and the baby is kicking away. Glucose test was good. The baby supposedly weighs 2.5 lbs and is 15 inches long. Sometimes it feels like he's really stretching out in there because I'll feel something at the top of my stomach and something down at the bottom at the same time. Going to the doctor's next week.
I organized my maternity clothes in my closet and got some of them hemmed and dry cleaned the ones that needed to be dry cleaned. So I'm feeling better about what to where everyday. I still have a bunch of stuff that needs to be ironed before I wear it. Oh, and for some reason I got a bunch of red clothes. I'm not much one for red (I think I can only take it once a week) so I got the red rotation down now too...:) I'm thinking about going shopping next weekend to get 2 undershirts for all the tops I have that show too much cleavage (what is it with all these low cut maternity clothes?), a white blouse to go with this skirt I bought, and some nursing bras. It's a good thing that I'm pregnant in the summer since I got so many clothes from my sis who lives in FL. I'm finding I'm wearing a lot more skirts since they are more comfortable.
Also (as you may have read in my last post) we started organizing the desk and closet in the spare bedroom in order to make room for baby. Got a few things for Salvation Army and threw out a bunch of stuff. My dad is working on building us a changing table and that will go where the desk is.
Saturday I did my weights class and then Martin and I went hiking in Great Falls, MD. Well, Martin said it really wasn't hiking since we didn't go up any hills but if it's walking in the woods on a non-paved servace, then it's hiking to me and that's what we did. Only walked about 3 miles but it was good. Drank lots of water and tried to stay cool. Oh, we also timed it well in that we got to see a lock demo on the C&O tow path. Sunday we went swimming for a little bit. I did laps for about 10 minutes. And last night we played up-close tennis (where you stand close to the net) so that's been my exercise for the week.
We booked our "baby moon" yesterday. Going to the eastern shore of Maryland the first weekend in October. The bed and breakfast we are staying in is right on the bay. Martin will be able to do some bike riding around the area and I'll get some time to read. It's only about 2 hours away but it will probably be the last time we go farther than an hour away from our hospital/doctor.
Got an appointment with a pediatrician for next month. There are two practices that we are looking at. I think we might check both of them out before deciding. They let you come in for a free meet and greet appointment before the baby's born.
My friend Kelly (whose wedding I was in in Louisiana) was in town last week. I met her for ice cream and she gave me our first baby gift. It's this adorable long sleeve yellow body suit with a bear on it and it has a hat that's got bear ears on it. Very cute! (Catherine, your mom told me she had the gift from you in the car on Sunday but then they brought the other car to church. So I might get it this weekend on the retreat if they remember or bring that car to the retreat...:) Otherwise, I'll get it next weekend.)
So yeah, we're going on our church retreat this weekend. Sounds like there's lots of places to walk around the retreat center. Looking forward to spending time with 2 couples from our home fellowship group.
That's about it for this week! Only about 11 more to go!
I organized my maternity clothes in my closet and got some of them hemmed and dry cleaned the ones that needed to be dry cleaned. So I'm feeling better about what to where everyday. I still have a bunch of stuff that needs to be ironed before I wear it. Oh, and for some reason I got a bunch of red clothes. I'm not much one for red (I think I can only take it once a week) so I got the red rotation down now too...:) I'm thinking about going shopping next weekend to get 2 undershirts for all the tops I have that show too much cleavage (what is it with all these low cut maternity clothes?), a white blouse to go with this skirt I bought, and some nursing bras. It's a good thing that I'm pregnant in the summer since I got so many clothes from my sis who lives in FL. I'm finding I'm wearing a lot more skirts since they are more comfortable.
Also (as you may have read in my last post) we started organizing the desk and closet in the spare bedroom in order to make room for baby. Got a few things for Salvation Army and threw out a bunch of stuff. My dad is working on building us a changing table and that will go where the desk is.
Saturday I did my weights class and then Martin and I went hiking in Great Falls, MD. Well, Martin said it really wasn't hiking since we didn't go up any hills but if it's walking in the woods on a non-paved servace, then it's hiking to me and that's what we did. Only walked about 3 miles but it was good. Drank lots of water and tried to stay cool. Oh, we also timed it well in that we got to see a lock demo on the C&O tow path. Sunday we went swimming for a little bit. I did laps for about 10 minutes. And last night we played up-close tennis (where you stand close to the net) so that's been my exercise for the week.
We booked our "baby moon" yesterday. Going to the eastern shore of Maryland the first weekend in October. The bed and breakfast we are staying in is right on the bay. Martin will be able to do some bike riding around the area and I'll get some time to read. It's only about 2 hours away but it will probably be the last time we go farther than an hour away from our hospital/doctor.
Got an appointment with a pediatrician for next month. There are two practices that we are looking at. I think we might check both of them out before deciding. They let you come in for a free meet and greet appointment before the baby's born.
My friend Kelly (whose wedding I was in in Louisiana) was in town last week. I met her for ice cream and she gave me our first baby gift. It's this adorable long sleeve yellow body suit with a bear on it and it has a hat that's got bear ears on it. Very cute! (Catherine, your mom told me she had the gift from you in the car on Sunday but then they brought the other car to church. So I might get it this weekend on the retreat if they remember or bring that car to the retreat...:) Otherwise, I'll get it next weekend.)
So yeah, we're going on our church retreat this weekend. Sounds like there's lots of places to walk around the retreat center. Looking forward to spending time with 2 couples from our home fellowship group.
That's about it for this week! Only about 11 more to go!
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Five Years in DC
I have friend who sends out an email on the anniversary of her move to DC every year. I'm not that nostalgic, but somewhat so, so I couldn't pass up the opportunity to write about the five year anniversary of my move to DC on August 20, 2001.
This is actually a significant milestone in my career as well since as of this coming Monday, I will be vested in the government's defined benefit pension plan. For those of you know a little about pensions, DB plans are becoming more rare and so I am fortunate to have one.
But other than that, the milestone is just a chance to take a look back. Since Sunday I hadn't really done that much until last night. I was going through boxes of junk to make room for the baby and I've finding things I had put aside and meant to do since moving here. (Seems as though I have a box from each move though so all the stuff isn't 5 years old.) Some of them I no longer want to do and I'm not sure how I feel about that. I had such high aspirations. Now the priorities have changed and while I'm sure of the priorities now, it makes me sad that I never finished some of things I planned to do. Most of what I'm talking about is giving up on organizing things that I no longer wish to keep or organize. Then there are the books and journals I never finished or kept up with.
But probably what got to me most was the things that I meant to research. One, was that I wanted to keep up more with economics once I left academia. I found a list that said "ways to keep up my economic skills while working." One of the things on the list was "attend seminars at local universities." That sounds so absurd to me at this point. I have no desire to do that. Then I was going to research my mission as a Christian in the field of economics and look into if and how capitalism is Biblical and read all these Christian econ papers. No desire to do that at this point either. What does that say about my calling as an economist? I like my job and I try to do my best but I certainly don't do more than is required of me or think philosophically about my job. It's a job to me. Nancy had a post on her blog the other day about doing everything unto the Lord and not just looking forward to free time. I think that plays in here too. Am I doing my job unto the Lord if I'm not thinking about what my mission is for my job? Am I doing my job unto the Lord if I'm not fully integregating my beliefs into my profession? How easy it is after 5 years in the same job to forget why you are doing it! How easy it is to use my job to support me financially in order to pursue other endeavours.
Thinking about this is overwhelming to me at this point. I have a baby on the way, why am I thinking about this? Partly because decisions about continuing to work tend to keep creeping up. I am already counting down the days until baby #2 comes and I can quit for good. Will that excuse me from thinking about the field in which I was educated for 7 years and will probably go back to someday? Will I actually have time to catch up on these things that I have been wanting to do for years....probably not.
The research was not just economic stuff. I wanted to go back and listen to or read sermoms that I had missed or Bible studies that I didn't finish or material for training classes that I was supposed to read but never did.
I will probably never finish these things and I'm not sure I even have a desire to and that drives me nuts since I can't stand to have stuff go un-finished. I'd rather leave these projects lying around the house with un-realistic aspirations to finish them rather than call it quits.
Anyone else like me? Anyone have any advice for my neurotic behavior?
Well, this ended up being a pretty depressing post. So time to turn it around. Yes, I have less and less time for these projects but what have they been replaced with? Many new friends, many experiences that I wouldn't trade for finishing projects, and many things that I have done and completed, including things at work that made the Treasury better. Life has changed a lot in five years. Went from being single and thinking I wouldn't get married soon to being married with baby on the way in five years. Went from being a newcomer to being a oldschooler by DC standards and knowing my way around and the resources and social outlets that DC has to offer. All has been for the good.
I'm not saying that I shouldn't be thinking about my mission anymore but I shouldn't be creating these silly projects to fulfill that mission. Thinking is not something that I can cross off my to do list but it is something that will accomplish the goal of being intentional with whatever I'm doing at the time. (Blogging also helps accomplish this!) I'm probably all over the place thought-wise so if you're following this you deserve a metal. But this type of journaling is what I wanted to do with my blog.
So, here's to 5 years in DC - to meeting the man of my dreams and getting to marry him, to my awesome church and the friends I've made there, to my good job, to being close enough to friends from home to visit them, to free museums, great biking trails, ultimate frisbee leagues, and all DC has given to me!
This is actually a significant milestone in my career as well since as of this coming Monday, I will be vested in the government's defined benefit pension plan. For those of you know a little about pensions, DB plans are becoming more rare and so I am fortunate to have one.
But other than that, the milestone is just a chance to take a look back. Since Sunday I hadn't really done that much until last night. I was going through boxes of junk to make room for the baby and I've finding things I had put aside and meant to do since moving here. (Seems as though I have a box from each move though so all the stuff isn't 5 years old.) Some of them I no longer want to do and I'm not sure how I feel about that. I had such high aspirations. Now the priorities have changed and while I'm sure of the priorities now, it makes me sad that I never finished some of things I planned to do. Most of what I'm talking about is giving up on organizing things that I no longer wish to keep or organize. Then there are the books and journals I never finished or kept up with.
But probably what got to me most was the things that I meant to research. One, was that I wanted to keep up more with economics once I left academia. I found a list that said "ways to keep up my economic skills while working." One of the things on the list was "attend seminars at local universities." That sounds so absurd to me at this point. I have no desire to do that. Then I was going to research my mission as a Christian in the field of economics and look into if and how capitalism is Biblical and read all these Christian econ papers. No desire to do that at this point either. What does that say about my calling as an economist? I like my job and I try to do my best but I certainly don't do more than is required of me or think philosophically about my job. It's a job to me. Nancy had a post on her blog the other day about doing everything unto the Lord and not just looking forward to free time. I think that plays in here too. Am I doing my job unto the Lord if I'm not thinking about what my mission is for my job? Am I doing my job unto the Lord if I'm not fully integregating my beliefs into my profession? How easy it is after 5 years in the same job to forget why you are doing it! How easy it is to use my job to support me financially in order to pursue other endeavours.
Thinking about this is overwhelming to me at this point. I have a baby on the way, why am I thinking about this? Partly because decisions about continuing to work tend to keep creeping up. I am already counting down the days until baby #2 comes and I can quit for good. Will that excuse me from thinking about the field in which I was educated for 7 years and will probably go back to someday? Will I actually have time to catch up on these things that I have been wanting to do for years....probably not.
The research was not just economic stuff. I wanted to go back and listen to or read sermoms that I had missed or Bible studies that I didn't finish or material for training classes that I was supposed to read but never did.
I will probably never finish these things and I'm not sure I even have a desire to and that drives me nuts since I can't stand to have stuff go un-finished. I'd rather leave these projects lying around the house with un-realistic aspirations to finish them rather than call it quits.
Anyone else like me? Anyone have any advice for my neurotic behavior?
Well, this ended up being a pretty depressing post. So time to turn it around. Yes, I have less and less time for these projects but what have they been replaced with? Many new friends, many experiences that I wouldn't trade for finishing projects, and many things that I have done and completed, including things at work that made the Treasury better. Life has changed a lot in five years. Went from being single and thinking I wouldn't get married soon to being married with baby on the way in five years. Went from being a newcomer to being a oldschooler by DC standards and knowing my way around and the resources and social outlets that DC has to offer. All has been for the good.
I'm not saying that I shouldn't be thinking about my mission anymore but I shouldn't be creating these silly projects to fulfill that mission. Thinking is not something that I can cross off my to do list but it is something that will accomplish the goal of being intentional with whatever I'm doing at the time. (Blogging also helps accomplish this!) I'm probably all over the place thought-wise so if you're following this you deserve a metal. But this type of journaling is what I wanted to do with my blog.
So, here's to 5 years in DC - to meeting the man of my dreams and getting to marry him, to my awesome church and the friends I've made there, to my good job, to being close enough to friends from home to visit them, to free museums, great biking trails, ultimate frisbee leagues, and all DC has given to me!
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Scroll down
I guess there isn't a way to reorder post. See below for a posting (Tagged!) that I started last week and just finished today.
Thursday, August 17, 2006
Update - Week 28
In this picture and outfit I actually look pregnant! I don't look like this all the time though. But I'm making progress.
I had my glucose test done on Monday. Haven't gotten the results yet so I'm assuming all is well. One of the receptionists at the doctors office told me I didn't look 28 weeks pregnant.
So this is the third trimester. I've been feeling like I have a lot of energy this week. Not sure if it was the sugar from the glucose test, the fact that I exercised/walked a lot last week, or the fact that I was stressed out and on an adrenline rush this week from being overwhelmed with all the stuff I had to catch up on getting back from vacation. But it's nice to have the energy.
The stress hasn't come from work but from a bunch of things on the to do list that are almost but not quite done so the to do list is long and overwhelming. Plus, we have a leak in our bathroom and we don't know where it is coming from - possibly the neighbor's pipes in our ceiling. This is going to be a major pain to fix.
I'm starting to get that itch for a new house. I've lived in the current place for about as long as I lived in my last place. That's only about 2 years but that was the longest I lived in one place since I was 18. Just feeling like we don't have enough room especiallly with the baby (even though we have 2 bedrooms). But we'll hold off until next spring, when hopefully the market and interest rate situation is more stable and when we've saved some more money.
Visted my brother and grandparents and aunt and uncle and parents and a Jen L. and her family last weekend. It was a whirlwind tour. Good times though, good times. Won't be back in PA before the baby!
Signed up for a breastfeeding class in a few weeks. I'm finding I don't have much time to read up on that so I'm going to take the class instead. Plus I have my mom (the WIC queen), my sister, a lactation consultant, and a Le Leche League member to help me out too. The class is right down the street from us so that's cool.
This week I haven't done too much baby prep except talk to people at work about my leave plans. I found out it's definitely better to take Leave Without Pay (LWOP) rather than drop down to a part time employee. By doing LWOP, I still keep my same life insurance coverage that I have now and I'll still get full time "creditable hours" for promotions. I will only get half time for annual and sick leave and for my annual (non-COLA) raises though but I totally expected that. So I told my boss my plans and he liked them - particularly the part about me teleworking on MWF so I wasn't incommunicato 3 days a week. He was fine with me only working 20 hours to start. So now I have to start the paperwork for the teleworking. I'm going to try it 2 or 3 days in Sept and then once a week in October until 2 weeks before my due date when I'll only telework. The only disadvantage to LWOP is that I think they don't want me to do it for more than a year. So after a year, I'll either have to go back to full time or change my position to part time. However, I really don't want to have to change it to part time since at that point I'll be ready to try getting pregnant again. And I plan to quit my job after the second child. But lots can happen in a year and a half and I shouldn't be thinking too much about that now since there's not much I can do.
Not getting anywhere with names. We're not going to tell until the baby is born anyways, but I can tell you that we have not agreed on a name. Martin is pretty set on one that I'm not too crazy about so I have to come up with something better. But I might cave in the end. I made the mistake of telling Martin that I never really had a boys name picked out because I assumed my husband would come up with the boy name. The name isn't bad, I'm just not sold. So we'll see.
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Tagged
My first tag! How exciting! I was tagged by Nancy.
1. One book that changed your life: Mountains beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, A Man Who Would Cure the World
by Tracy Kidder
2. One book that you’ve read more than once: none (although do books that I started and then quit and then restarted count? if so then Little Women)
3. One book you’d want on a desert island: Bible
4. One book that made you laugh: I remember chuckling while reading before but I don't remember which books I was reading at those time. I usually read non-fiction or depressing fiction. So I'm stumped on this one...
5. One book that made you cry: Black and Blue by Anna Quindlen
6. One book that you wish had been written: Wedding Horror Stories by me and Melissa N.
7. One book that you wish had never been written: Recursive Methods in Economic Dynamics (aka Stokey/Lucas).
8. One book you’re currently reading: Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte. For book club.
9. One book you’ve been meaning to read: something on breastfeeding
10. Now tag five people: I tag Catherine G., Amy L., Martin E., Cara H., and Dave M.
1. One book that changed your life: Mountains beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, A Man Who Would Cure the World
by Tracy Kidder
2. One book that you’ve read more than once: none (although do books that I started and then quit and then restarted count? if so then Little Women)
3. One book you’d want on a desert island: Bible
4. One book that made you laugh: I remember chuckling while reading before but I don't remember which books I was reading at those time. I usually read non-fiction or depressing fiction. So I'm stumped on this one...
5. One book that made you cry: Black and Blue by Anna Quindlen
6. One book that you wish had been written: Wedding Horror Stories by me and Melissa N.
7. One book that you wish had never been written: Recursive Methods in Economic Dynamics (aka Stokey/Lucas).
8. One book you’re currently reading: Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte. For book club.
9. One book you’ve been meaning to read: something on breastfeeding
10. Now tag five people: I tag Catherine G., Amy L., Martin E., Cara H., and Dave M.
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Update - Week 27
I was at camp all this week. I definitely think the Lord gave me supernatural endurance (thanks for your prayers!). I walked sooo much and never really got tired. I was slow but I walked a lot. The weather was great at camp, although probably a little too cool for the pool. Well, the water was too cool. I'm still feeling really good. Although my belly is getting bigger and with that comes more discomfort in sitting and trying to sleep.
I had to tell the folks at camp that I was pregnant though. No one suspected until I told them.
I think I may be going to exclusive maternity clothes this week because if I put on regular clothes they may fit when I'm standing up but are uncomfortable when I sit down.
Filled out the registration form for the hospital this week and talked to the insurance company a little bit. I did need to get a pre-authorization from the insurance company but my doctor already took care of that. So that's good.
Martin's mom is going to make the invitations for the shower. That'll be cool and will allow her to be a part of the shower even though she won't be able to make it.
Well, that's about it for now. I'll have a picture in the next update.
I had to tell the folks at camp that I was pregnant though. No one suspected until I told them.
I think I may be going to exclusive maternity clothes this week because if I put on regular clothes they may fit when I'm standing up but are uncomfortable when I sit down.
Filled out the registration form for the hospital this week and talked to the insurance company a little bit. I did need to get a pre-authorization from the insurance company but my doctor already took care of that. So that's good.
Martin's mom is going to make the invitations for the shower. That'll be cool and will allow her to be a part of the shower even though she won't be able to make it.
Well, that's about it for now. I'll have a picture in the next update.
Thursday, August 03, 2006
Update - Week 26
Well, I'm surviving the heat. It hasn't been too bad since I haven't been outside much but I had some killer commutes this week. Tuesday and Wednesday were awful, awful, awful both ways on the metro. And I didn't get a seat (of course).
I wore two maternity outfits this week. The picture shows one of them. (I could have sworn I was smiling in that pic. I meant to.) Thanks to my sister for the cool clothes! I should have taken a picture each day since I look so different depending what clothes I wear. The day after the picture was taken I wore a black khaki skirt and regular shirt and I couldn't even tell I looked any different than normal. I've gained 11 pounds during the pregnancy.
Just doing the class at the gym but no other exercising. Martin hasn't been getting up to go for a bike ride since it's so hot and find it very difficult to be motivated to get up before he does.
Had a doctors appointment on Wednesday. All is good. Next time I go it's for the yucky glucose test. Fun. I'll be starting appointments every two weeks now.
The baby is moving a lot. He's very active.
I've been getting up every day at 3:30am to go the bathroom. Must be preparation for when the baby comes.
Went to Babies R Us last Saturday. Laura B. and I were there for 2 hours. I'm still undecided about the stroller. I'll probably make one more trip (and take Martin) to make the final decisions. Still getting input from other moms.
Martin and I have been having lots of name discussions. Still can agree on a name. I know we have three months but it feels like we aren't getting anywhere or haven't come up with anything new in a while.
I think all the breastfeeding and child care classes may be taken up so I don't think we are going to do those. But we will do the childbirth classes since I'm already signed up for that.
Going to camp on Saturday for a week. Hopefully the walking and heat won't be too much. I think I'm going to take the camelback and wear it all week so that i'll drink enough water. Looking forward to being outside and not thinking so much about what I have to wear everyday. Hopefully I get some reading done too for my book club and the parenting book Martin and I are reading. And of course it will be fun to be with friends and the kids at camp. My next update will be a little late because of camp.
Friday, July 28, 2006
Are you a Lactivist?
Check out this CNN article on the debate about breastfeeding in public. Personally I don't see what the big deal is since practically every woman who breastfeeds in public does it discreetly and you see a lot more boob walking down the street in the summer time or on the beach or on other magazine covers than when you see a mother breastfeeding or what was on that mommy magazine cover. I don't understand thinking that it's gross either - that's what they are there for...hello? As long as the woman is discreet, I can't see how someone can be bothered by the fact of just knowing that it's going on. You probably won't see me at nurse-in however, so I'm not sure if I qualify as a lactivist.
Thursday, July 27, 2006
Update - Week 25
Today I'm wearing maternity clothes for the first time. I'm wearing the dress that my sister wore to her shower when she was about as far along as I am now. It's a loose spandex dress and I still don't look pregnant, certainly not what Carrie looked like at her shower...enough of my weekly whining about not looking pregnant....
I'm feeling great! Still sleeping more (and exercising less though). But I was in the pool last weekend a bunch and I will hopefully make it to the gym this weekend so I'm at least working out once a week.
Last weekend's visit to FL to see Carrie and family was great. Steven is sooo cute. I didn't want to leave him. Learned a lot about parenting and newborn care and breastfeeding. The running joke over the weekend was how many breastfeeding conversations Martin had to listen to. He was a really good sport though and appreciates being included in all the decisions/discussions/etc. for which I am grateful.
One thing I came to a conclusion about regarding newborn care is that pacifiers aren't bad. I thought I was against them (and Carrie was at first too) but after seeing how they are useful and don't substitute for my sister, I'm for them, at least at first. For two year olds, that's a different story.
I also learned that even after you go through the checklist of baby's needs - hunger, needs diaper changed, wants to be held - he/she can still cry! I guess at some level I knew this but it becomes more a reality when you experience it. It's somewhat frustrating to know you can't do anything to comfort the child because you either you don't know what it is or you can't help it - like stop their hiccups. And Steven is a really "good" baby too - he sleeps a lot and is usually content - yet I still realized this.
This weekend I'm going to go to Babies R Us with Laura B. who is due the same month I am. Hopefully we'll narrow down the decisions on a lot of the stuff. We are both reading Baby Bargains.
Looks like my friends from Bible Study are throwing me a shower here on Sept. 23rd. That should be really fun. My mom and sister will actually be able to make it too.
Got a lot going on this next week before camp - I'm meeting with some new financial education clients tomorrow, then Monday I have a meeting with the STEP tutoring evaluation group, then doctors appointment and Bible Study (which we're leading) on Wednesday. Plus we have to finish planning and packing for camp and go grocery shopping one more time. AAHHH. Guess I'll need the vacation. Been feeling like I need to spend more time in prayer and more time in the Word and in prayer with Martin lately. Being submerged in the Christian community at camp for a week will be good. 9 more days...
I'm feeling great! Still sleeping more (and exercising less though). But I was in the pool last weekend a bunch and I will hopefully make it to the gym this weekend so I'm at least working out once a week.
Last weekend's visit to FL to see Carrie and family was great. Steven is sooo cute. I didn't want to leave him. Learned a lot about parenting and newborn care and breastfeeding. The running joke over the weekend was how many breastfeeding conversations Martin had to listen to. He was a really good sport though and appreciates being included in all the decisions/discussions/etc. for which I am grateful.
One thing I came to a conclusion about regarding newborn care is that pacifiers aren't bad. I thought I was against them (and Carrie was at first too) but after seeing how they are useful and don't substitute for my sister, I'm for them, at least at first. For two year olds, that's a different story.
I also learned that even after you go through the checklist of baby's needs - hunger, needs diaper changed, wants to be held - he/she can still cry! I guess at some level I knew this but it becomes more a reality when you experience it. It's somewhat frustrating to know you can't do anything to comfort the child because you either you don't know what it is or you can't help it - like stop their hiccups. And Steven is a really "good" baby too - he sleeps a lot and is usually content - yet I still realized this.
This weekend I'm going to go to Babies R Us with Laura B. who is due the same month I am. Hopefully we'll narrow down the decisions on a lot of the stuff. We are both reading Baby Bargains.
Looks like my friends from Bible Study are throwing me a shower here on Sept. 23rd. That should be really fun. My mom and sister will actually be able to make it too.
Got a lot going on this next week before camp - I'm meeting with some new financial education clients tomorrow, then Monday I have a meeting with the STEP tutoring evaluation group, then doctors appointment and Bible Study (which we're leading) on Wednesday. Plus we have to finish planning and packing for camp and go grocery shopping one more time. AAHHH. Guess I'll need the vacation. Been feeling like I need to spend more time in prayer and more time in the Word and in prayer with Martin lately. Being submerged in the Christian community at camp for a week will be good. 9 more days...
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Pictures from trip to Panama City
border="0" alt="" />Me and Martin at Mexico Beach.
Steven in his swing.
Carrie and Steven at the beach.
Me with Steven at the airport.
Grandparents looking on.
Our neices and nephews: Erik, Rachel, Butterball, and Pixie.
Baby and mama.
All dressed up for church.
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Update - Week 24
Here's an updated picture. Not much different from two weeks ago. I think my belly is more barrel-like than rounded. Still not getting seats on metro or wearing maternity clothes and people still say I don't look pregnant. And now I can say I'm 6 months pregnant!
Still feeling good although I did have an episode this week. On my way to the bus on Tuesday morning, I felt tired and faint-ish. Had to come back inside and wait a few minutes and drink something and eat something before going to work. It might have been the extreme heat but honestly I wasn't out there long and I was feeling faint and my heart was racing even before I got to the bus stop. So I don't know what it was and I was fine shortly after it.
Sometimes I can feel my heart beating really strongly. Apparently this is normal. It's just weird. Like I'll be lying on my side and my whole body will move with each heartbeat. I feel it in my belly a lot. I know it's not the baby by my heartbeat. I guess it's from the increased blood flow that's being pumped through my body and to the baby.
Went to the gym on Saturday and did the weights class. Still enjoying that. There was another pregnant lady there and she did all the lying down exercise on an inclined step so maybe I could try that. She didn't do any abs at all. I think I'm fine doing abs on the ball. I don't lie on my back at all which makes them less effective but I'm still getting some ab work.
Been sleeping in a lot this week. Still eating alot. Although now it's hard to tell when I should stop eating. Before getting pregnant I knew how much I needed to eat so even when I felt I could eat more and wanting to I knew I should stop or I would gain weight. Earlier in the pregnancy I would eat until I was full and that wasn't too much. Now I feel I could eat a ton and still not be full. I guess I should just keep eating healthy stuff and then I don't need to worry too much about quantity.
Going to FL on Friday. Getting on a plane again. This time for a longer period. Should be fun.
Starting to think about where we're going to move the desk in the spare bedroom to make room for the baby stuff. Other than that haven't done too much preparations this week. Oh, I did get some maternity clothes from a lady at church. Got some good stuff there. Also got some tents mascarading as clothes. Will I really get that big?!
Well, I guess that's all for this week. More soon!
Thursday, July 13, 2006
Update - Week 23
Sorry I meant to put a new pic up but I didn't get around to it. But I don't look much different than I did last week. I'm starting to get jealous of my friend who is 3 weeks behind me and looks really cute and pregnant. I want the attention of people noticing that I'm pregnant...wah. I know it should be a blessing that I'm not showing right? But I not one of those women who feel like bad about getting big when pregnant. I mean it's not like the "oh, you've put on weight" type of feeling, there's good reason and it's a different kind of weight/size gain. But it's also a good thing because I haven't bought any maturnity clothes for work. Only have to make it 5 more work days until we leave for FL to see my sis and Steven and the rest of the fam and get her maturnity clothes.
Really looking forward to meeting Steven and spending time with a newborn. Hoping also to help my sister and bro-in-law out with their other kids. Chuck E. Cheese here we come!
Still feeling really good this week. Haven't exercised as much but I did do the weights class on Saturday and swimming on Sunday. Hoping to do the weights class again on Saturday.
Been pretty hunger lately. Maybe that means the baby is getting ready for a growth spurt. Last night I inhaled a plateful of speghetti. When Martin saw what I had done, he gave me the rest of his. Now, for those who haven't dined with us before, this is HUGE. First, Martin eats really really quickly. So for me to finish before him is a feat. Then for him to give up his food. That's something you mark on the calendar. (We always have an abundance so it's not like he wouldn't sacrifice if he needed to, like he did last night.) And then for me to eat more than Martin. Even being pregnant hasn't enabled me to do that until last night. So I ate 1.5 plates of speghetti and then I had 2 pieces of pie at Bible Study last night. You should have seen the look on Martin's face when I finished the first plate of speghetti, it was like who are you and what have you done with my wife! And he was so sweet and insistent that I take his food. And so quick about it too, he didn't even think twice, it was like, you definitely need this.
Reading about strollers this week. I think we are going to get a travel system (I like the convenience of snapping the car seat in) although I want to make sure to find one that's lightweight at least when it's just the stroller. There are frames that you can buy that just carry the car seat and don't convert to strollers but by the time you buy that an then a stroller later, even a smaller cheaper one, you've already spent the cost of the travel system.
Oh, we got a preregistration form for the hospital last week at the doctors. They want to know on the form the insurance number for the baby. But uh, the baby's not born yet. Anyone know how this works?
Looking into family care child care (where you take your child to someone's home and they have like 5 kids that they watch). Seems like there's a network in our county but I"m not sure if the caregivers near us have openings. The woman I emailed about the program was not very helpful. Seems like you needed to sign up for this info session but most of the sessions were during the day and those that weren't were one days I'll be out of town. I guess I don't need to think about it until the baby's born but I'm just thinking those three months of maturnity leave are going to go by so quickly, especially with the holidays. Plus, a lot of pregnant ladies around here do day care and you have to set that up months and months ahead of time so I feel like I'm behind on that.
I just started the month-by-month-what-we-need-to-do-before-baby checklist. Theknot.com has a wedding one, but I haven't found a baby one so I made my own.
Having a pretty fun week with having book club on monday and with my former roommate in town. Going to the movies - girls night out - tonight. Fun! Going to a wedding on Saturday. I thought I'd be needing a maturnity dress but guess not.
Really looking forward to meeting Steven and spending time with a newborn. Hoping also to help my sister and bro-in-law out with their other kids. Chuck E. Cheese here we come!
Still feeling really good this week. Haven't exercised as much but I did do the weights class on Saturday and swimming on Sunday. Hoping to do the weights class again on Saturday.
Been pretty hunger lately. Maybe that means the baby is getting ready for a growth spurt. Last night I inhaled a plateful of speghetti. When Martin saw what I had done, he gave me the rest of his. Now, for those who haven't dined with us before, this is HUGE. First, Martin eats really really quickly. So for me to finish before him is a feat. Then for him to give up his food. That's something you mark on the calendar. (We always have an abundance so it's not like he wouldn't sacrifice if he needed to, like he did last night.) And then for me to eat more than Martin. Even being pregnant hasn't enabled me to do that until last night. So I ate 1.5 plates of speghetti and then I had 2 pieces of pie at Bible Study last night. You should have seen the look on Martin's face when I finished the first plate of speghetti, it was like who are you and what have you done with my wife! And he was so sweet and insistent that I take his food. And so quick about it too, he didn't even think twice, it was like, you definitely need this.
Reading about strollers this week. I think we are going to get a travel system (I like the convenience of snapping the car seat in) although I want to make sure to find one that's lightweight at least when it's just the stroller. There are frames that you can buy that just carry the car seat and don't convert to strollers but by the time you buy that an then a stroller later, even a smaller cheaper one, you've already spent the cost of the travel system.
Oh, we got a preregistration form for the hospital last week at the doctors. They want to know on the form the insurance number for the baby. But uh, the baby's not born yet. Anyone know how this works?
Looking into family care child care (where you take your child to someone's home and they have like 5 kids that they watch). Seems like there's a network in our county but I"m not sure if the caregivers near us have openings. The woman I emailed about the program was not very helpful. Seems like you needed to sign up for this info session but most of the sessions were during the day and those that weren't were one days I'll be out of town. I guess I don't need to think about it until the baby's born but I'm just thinking those three months of maturnity leave are going to go by so quickly, especially with the holidays. Plus, a lot of pregnant ladies around here do day care and you have to set that up months and months ahead of time so I feel like I'm behind on that.
I just started the month-by-month-what-we-need-to-do-before-baby checklist. Theknot.com has a wedding one, but I haven't found a baby one so I made my own.
Having a pretty fun week with having book club on monday and with my former roommate in town. Going to the movies - girls night out - tonight. Fun! Going to a wedding on Saturday. I thought I'd be needing a maturnity dress but guess not.
Thursday, July 06, 2006
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Update - Week 22
Okay, so by popular demand my first profile picture...I think I'm finally starting to look pregnant, depending the clothes that I wear. Still have only gained 5 lbs.
It's been a really good week. I've been feeling great. My legs don't hurt much at all. I think that may be because I exercised a lot more this week. Went to the pool on Sunday and Tuesday, went bike riding on Monday, did a class at the gym on Saturday, and did videos at home on Monday and Tuesday. Got a good report from the dentist on Wednesday.
Doctor's appointment went well this morning. The heartbeat was much more distinct this time. They measured my belly for the first time. Doctor said that based on the size of the baby as determined by the sonogram, he is a week ahead of schedule. So either that means he'll come early or I'll have a 9lb baby. (The doctor actually said "9 lb baby" and asked us how big we were at birth - we were both in the 7 lb range.) Doctor said that means that if the trend continues (and by the end he's 2 weeks ahead size-wise), then they won't let me go passed my due date. I really don't want to be induced, nor do I want to give birth to a 9lb baby. So hopefully he'll just come early.
Got an email from Babies R Us this week saying that they are now independent from Amazon. I think this will be good news in the long run; however, their website is having lots of problems now. But the small registry that I started seems to have been transferred smoothly. Seems like a lot of stuff is still unavailable online but hopefully that will be fixed soon. Still reading about car seats. I looked on this website and found that the infant seat and the convertible seat that Baby Bargains recommends seem to fit in both our cars although the infant one may only fit well in the center of the Civic and the convertible one may only fit well on the side (outboard, so they call it) of the Maxima. Not sure if that matters though.
Martin and I got a book from our church library on parenting. It's called Successful Christian Parenting by John MacArther. I have a devotional of his that I liked but other than that, didn't really know too much about the author. And I was a little hesitant about the title - like was this going to be twelve steps to make sure your child turns out to be a well-behaved Christian. Well, the author defines success, not on how the kid turns out but by how well the parents stick to Biblical principles. And the principles aren't extra-biblical rules like a lot of Christian books try to push on parents - like thou must homeschool or something. He looks at specific passages of Scripture that speak to parenting and fleshes those out. Okay, well, actually I've only read the first chapter since Martin and I are taking turns reading the book and discussing after each chapter, but sounds good from the first chapter. (Catherine, I think we will still get the Sproul Jr. book but MPC library didn't have it so we're starting with this....as soon as I get enough mypoints to get a gift certificate to B&N, I'll get the Sproul book and then donate it to the library when we're done. ;)
Saturday, July 01, 2006
I'm an aunt!
This morning at 4:32 CDT my sister gave birth to her first child - Steven Remnar, weighing 7lbs, 4oz and measuring 20.5 inches long. Mother and baby are doing very well.
Carrie's water broke last night around 9:30 but she was not having contractions. They went to the hospital and contractions started around 1:30am. She said it was only bad for the last half hour. I can't believe how quickly she gave birth. She was telling them call the doctor, call the doctor, the baby's coming. She went from 2 to 10 cm in no time. She said the doctor was only there for a few minutes and the baby was out. She went natural. I'm hoping this is in our genes.
Steven (or little Peshda (sp?) as my sister is calling him - only my HS friends will understand that one) did very well at latching on to my sister (for feeding) but apparently he takes two sucks and falls asleep. I'm sure he'll be sleeping a lot.
Praise God for the answer to our prayers for a quick and safe delivery and a healthy baby. (I was also glad that the baby is a boy - because our boy will have a boy cousin his age and because the middle name that Carrie and her husband had picked out for girl takes a lot of explaining...:) (I was also very glad the baby was born on July 1st - 2 days away from my birthday and in a different month...:) He was still about 2 weeks early from his original due date.
Carrie's water broke last night around 9:30 but she was not having contractions. They went to the hospital and contractions started around 1:30am. She said it was only bad for the last half hour. I can't believe how quickly she gave birth. She was telling them call the doctor, call the doctor, the baby's coming. She went from 2 to 10 cm in no time. She said the doctor was only there for a few minutes and the baby was out. She went natural. I'm hoping this is in our genes.
Steven (or little Peshda (sp?) as my sister is calling him - only my HS friends will understand that one) did very well at latching on to my sister (for feeding) but apparently he takes two sucks and falls asleep. I'm sure he'll be sleeping a lot.
Praise God for the answer to our prayers for a quick and safe delivery and a healthy baby. (I was also glad that the baby is a boy - because our boy will have a boy cousin his age and because the middle name that Carrie and her husband had picked out for girl takes a lot of explaining...:) (I was also very glad the baby was born on July 1st - 2 days away from my birthday and in a different month...:) He was still about 2 weeks early from his original due date.
Thursday, June 29, 2006
Update - Week 21
Still feeling pretty good. It's just my lower legs that are sore. Like my calves and shins. My ankles seem a little bigger but not much. Yesterday my one friend was like, I thiinnnk I can tell you're pregnant. It must have been the dress I was wearing because this gal that I saw at the bus stop both days said to me this morning, "now today, you don't look pregnant at all." Apparently yesterday I did. But I heard this is the month that I will "pop." So by the time we go to camp I'm going to be big.
I"m reading about car seats now in Baby Bargains. Fun stuff, NOT.
Signed up for a childbirth class for Sept 30th. That's the earliest I could get a class that I didn't already have something going on on that day. Hopefully it's not too late (I'll be 34 weeks at that point). Debating whether to sign up for the breastfeeding and child care classes. The childbirth is $150 and the other two are $55 a piece.
Signed up for NetFlix. We're on the 2 per month plan until the baby comes and then we'll go to unlimited so I can watch movies while I'm breastfeeding in the middle of the night. This has come highly recommended by 3 different friends.
So anyone know what's up with Babies R Us's website? I know their in some dispute with Amazon but it doesn't look like they have much available online. All the stuff I'm looking at says "currently not available." Maybe we'll register there but just do it in store and then do Walmart or Target for anyone who wants to buy us something online.
I've noticed that whenever I eat a lot at once (as opposed to smaller meals) the baby really starts kicking a lot. After lunch on Tuesday, he was kicking/moving for like 2 hours. I was paranoid at first like, oh no, my child hates pizza (what I had for lunch) or worse, he's allergic to something - like cheese which I ate a lot of that day. But I think it was just cause I ate a lot at once and so he was up. So said the ladies on babyfit.com.
Oh, had lunch this week with a gal from Treasury who is pregnant and due in August who is also coming back less than full time. I think she's going to do 30 hours though. But she shared with me some stuff on day care (14 month waiting period for the Treasury sponsored day care - ridiculous!) and nannies and working part time. Oh, and I found out that there is a lactation room in the Treasury building. It's a conference room with a refridgerator. It's 4 floors up but there's an elevator close to me now. Apparently I just need to get a key to use it.
I'm afraid that I ended up being a little misleading with people who I've told that I'm going to cut back my hours or go less than full time. I think they assuming that means I'll be working at least 25 hours a week but probably more like 30-32. Maybe I'll work up to 24 or 25 but I'm thinking 20 hours when I first come back. Maybe once I don't have to breastfeed as much I can do more. The hard thing is I don't want to give up any of my issues. I will gladly share but I don't want to be taken off them totally. The sad thing is that I think I can still do most of my job in 20 hours a week on most weeks. Like this week has been pretty quiet. But I don't want to tell anyone that because then it's like you're telling them that you don't have enough work. Then it's like they feel they shouldn't be paying me as much or that I should be done more or they feel bad for not giving me enough work. I would have gladly done more work but it's actually more work for my boss to find me stuff to do. I guess I'm supposed to be proactive and find things to research but it's so hard to know what you may need to know in the future and what's relevant. I don't really want to know all the idiosyncrasies of the farm credit system or the deposit insurance system. Plus, that's the stuff I would be giving up working less than full time. Maybe that's the argument I make to my boss about how I can still handle my issues. Hey boss, I just won't be doing the extensive background research....(...that I haven't been doing anyway....) I really have a bad work ethic. Another reason I shouldn't be working full time.....
I"m reading about car seats now in Baby Bargains. Fun stuff, NOT.
Signed up for a childbirth class for Sept 30th. That's the earliest I could get a class that I didn't already have something going on on that day. Hopefully it's not too late (I'll be 34 weeks at that point). Debating whether to sign up for the breastfeeding and child care classes. The childbirth is $150 and the other two are $55 a piece.
Signed up for NetFlix. We're on the 2 per month plan until the baby comes and then we'll go to unlimited so I can watch movies while I'm breastfeeding in the middle of the night. This has come highly recommended by 3 different friends.
So anyone know what's up with Babies R Us's website? I know their in some dispute with Amazon but it doesn't look like they have much available online. All the stuff I'm looking at says "currently not available." Maybe we'll register there but just do it in store and then do Walmart or Target for anyone who wants to buy us something online.
I've noticed that whenever I eat a lot at once (as opposed to smaller meals) the baby really starts kicking a lot. After lunch on Tuesday, he was kicking/moving for like 2 hours. I was paranoid at first like, oh no, my child hates pizza (what I had for lunch) or worse, he's allergic to something - like cheese which I ate a lot of that day. But I think it was just cause I ate a lot at once and so he was up. So said the ladies on babyfit.com.
Oh, had lunch this week with a gal from Treasury who is pregnant and due in August who is also coming back less than full time. I think she's going to do 30 hours though. But she shared with me some stuff on day care (14 month waiting period for the Treasury sponsored day care - ridiculous!) and nannies and working part time. Oh, and I found out that there is a lactation room in the Treasury building. It's a conference room with a refridgerator. It's 4 floors up but there's an elevator close to me now. Apparently I just need to get a key to use it.
I'm afraid that I ended up being a little misleading with people who I've told that I'm going to cut back my hours or go less than full time. I think they assuming that means I'll be working at least 25 hours a week but probably more like 30-32. Maybe I'll work up to 24 or 25 but I'm thinking 20 hours when I first come back. Maybe once I don't have to breastfeed as much I can do more. The hard thing is I don't want to give up any of my issues. I will gladly share but I don't want to be taken off them totally. The sad thing is that I think I can still do most of my job in 20 hours a week on most weeks. Like this week has been pretty quiet. But I don't want to tell anyone that because then it's like you're telling them that you don't have enough work. Then it's like they feel they shouldn't be paying me as much or that I should be done more or they feel bad for not giving me enough work. I would have gladly done more work but it's actually more work for my boss to find me stuff to do. I guess I'm supposed to be proactive and find things to research but it's so hard to know what you may need to know in the future and what's relevant. I don't really want to know all the idiosyncrasies of the farm credit system or the deposit insurance system. Plus, that's the stuff I would be giving up working less than full time. Maybe that's the argument I make to my boss about how I can still handle my issues. Hey boss, I just won't be doing the extensive background research....(...that I haven't been doing anyway....) I really have a bad work ethic. Another reason I shouldn't be working full time.....
So this is 30...
It actually does feel a little different than other birthdays. Not sure how to explain it. I mean, I've been saying "I'll be thirty in June" for a while now so it's not like it sneaked up on me. But there was that sort of excitement or oh, you should feel bad for me sentiment associated with that statement. Now its time to get over it and so that's I guess what's different. Time to accept and move on. No pity party. And why should there be. I'm almost the youngest at work so it's not like I get any sympathy here. Or in my econ circles. Or even in other circles. Plus, I have much to be thankful for and no regrets like - man, I wish I would have done that before 30. Anything that I want to do can be done at 30+. I'm married with a baby on the way so not fearing the biological clock. Got a job in my field that pays well so I"m not obsessed with "getting ahead." I guess we haven't exactly reached our housing goal but that doesn't need to be done by 30. It's weird to see the number in print. It looks so different. Is that really my AGE? Anyway, I'm totally rambling.
They say kids will keep you young. That's good. Maybe they'll be a lot of kids there tonight at the musical Annie. I'll be in the young crowd then.
I've had three co-workers wish me Happy Birthday already today. I don't remember telling all of them. Maybe something is up....:) I was going to go get myself some ice cream at lunch to celebrate.
They say kids will keep you young. That's good. Maybe they'll be a lot of kids there tonight at the musical Annie. I'll be in the young crowd then.
I've had three co-workers wish me Happy Birthday already today. I don't remember telling all of them. Maybe something is up....:) I was going to go get myself some ice cream at lunch to celebrate.
Friday, June 23, 2006
Last weekend of my 20s....
And what am I doing you may ask. Most appropriately, I'm going to a bridal shower. If there was one thing that characterized the majority of the youthful yet independent decade in my life it would be going to weddings and doing wedding related things. I've been in 8 weddings including my own, was invited to about 50 weddings including 16 in one year (2004, but only attended about half of those), attended close to 35 weddings, planned my own wedding, and became a wedding reception cooridinator for my church in the course of the last decade. And I loved every minute of it. I thought that going to weddings would be a drag after your own but it's great - where else do you really get to dance with your husband (beside your own kitchen when you're practicing your swing moves for the next wedding:) and think about your own marriage vows? Plus, you still think about what you liked and didn't like about how they did the wedding. There's no "oh, I wish we could have down that" because everything had a reason for having to be done the way we did it. And now I'm getting useful tips for the brides that I work with.
The baby decade almost always overlaps with the wedding decade. I think the baby decade probably started for me in about 2001 when my former college roommate had her first child. I was 25 then so maybe 25 - 35 will be the baby decade, although it might have to go longer if i want to have 3 or 4 kids. Don't want to have to pop them all out in 5 years.
Other plans for the weekend...watching a movie tonight. Going out to dinner with Martin on Saturday. And having lunch at a friend's on Sunday. So pretty low-key otherwise but typical.
Martin is taking me to see Annie at Wolftrap on Thursday. I've lived here almost 5 years and I haven't been to Wolftrap (outdoor stage / cultural arts center) yet. So very excited about that. That's been a goal of mine. Trying to get some folks together for a birthday party next Saturday. The good thing about having a b-day around the time of our Nation's b-day is that there are always fireworks! The bad thing is that most people are out of town. But it will still be a blast. Our place can probably only handle 15 people anyway.
The baby decade almost always overlaps with the wedding decade. I think the baby decade probably started for me in about 2001 when my former college roommate had her first child. I was 25 then so maybe 25 - 35 will be the baby decade, although it might have to go longer if i want to have 3 or 4 kids. Don't want to have to pop them all out in 5 years.
Other plans for the weekend...watching a movie tonight. Going out to dinner with Martin on Saturday. And having lunch at a friend's on Sunday. So pretty low-key otherwise but typical.
Martin is taking me to see Annie at Wolftrap on Thursday. I've lived here almost 5 years and I haven't been to Wolftrap (outdoor stage / cultural arts center) yet. So very excited about that. That's been a goal of mine. Trying to get some folks together for a birthday party next Saturday. The good thing about having a b-day around the time of our Nation's b-day is that there are always fireworks! The bad thing is that most people are out of town. But it will still be a blast. Our place can probably only handle 15 people anyway.
Thursday, June 22, 2006
Update - Week 20
This has been a good an exciting week. Obviously the ultrasound was exciting but it was so much better than I thought. I thought we were going to see this lesser formed human floating in water and not doing very much. On the contrary! We have a very active little boy! He was moving so much it was making him tired since he yawned during the ultrasound. I mentioned that I started crying when i saw that and I think that the reason was that realized how much of a little person he is already, doing things we do. He moved his arms a lot and I swear he seemed to be playing peek-a-boo with us. He looked like he was having a good old time. (Some may say that was due to the candy bar I ate earlier in the day.) It sort of gave me this feeling like he's not as helpless as I thought. Also that he's his own person, separate from me, which one knows but it's little things like this that make one realize them more or to a deeper extent. I will scan the pics tomorrow and try to get them up on the blog. That pictures don't do the ultrasound justice though. You see mostly the bones which make the kid look like an alien but I'm sure he's much cuter than that - just look at his daddy!
I got Martin a "I love my Daddy" frame for Father's Day. I told him to put the ultrasound pic in it and take it to work.....he didn't seem to think getting asked a ton of questions about it all day at work would be fun. He's not as much of a slacker at work as I am.
When I came home yesterday, I started looking at boy clothes online. I felt like I needed to pick some sort of theme. Baby blue is nice and I like strips (and plaid of course!) and some more medium blues. As far as theme though, I wasn't crazy about the sports or boats or Pooh clothes. Seem pretty cheesy. I guess we won't be able to get away from Blues Clues, which is fine. But I really liked the clothes with stars on them and especially anything dealing with space or a space ship. So maybe that will be the clothes theme. Still going with the pastoral sheep and bunnies for the eventual nursery since hopefully that will last through multiple kids. But the space stuff will be this child's thing.
Gotta get serious about the boy name now. We have two names (with middle names) that we like but we're not sold on either one. We think we can come up with something better.
Still feeling good. Starting to notice my ankles getting a little swollen and I'm going the bathroom more. I flew to Boston over the weekend to visit my friend (and trainer!) Jen K. I could really tell the difference in the circulation in my legs during the flight. And it was only an hour. I need to stop cross my legs as much and putting my feet up. Jen and I had a great time in Boston. We walked around a lot on Saturday morning and watched some World Cup games and went to the movies and a museum. I didn't even crash when I got home. I have slept more this week though. But I did get up this morning and exercise! And we went to the pool last night.
Just last week I started to notice my pants being too tight. I started using this expander thing that my sister bought me. It's worked really well. This week I've worn just my bigger pants and that still works. No maternity clothes yet and hopefully I can hold out for about a month (with the expander things to help) until I get some maternity clothes from my sister. Going to FL July 21-24th. My sister is ready to deliver any moment although her due date wasn't until July 10th. Hopefully she'll have the baby next week, just not on my birthday....:)
I told my friend Alison (who will be at camp with us in August) last week. I also told my prayer group at work. I think that's everyone now. (Martin also told his friend Brian this weekend when he went to visit him). Now we have to go around again telling everyone it's a boy. I think I may stick to email for this news.
I got Martin a "I love my Daddy" frame for Father's Day. I told him to put the ultrasound pic in it and take it to work.....he didn't seem to think getting asked a ton of questions about it all day at work would be fun. He's not as much of a slacker at work as I am.
When I came home yesterday, I started looking at boy clothes online. I felt like I needed to pick some sort of theme. Baby blue is nice and I like strips (and plaid of course!) and some more medium blues. As far as theme though, I wasn't crazy about the sports or boats or Pooh clothes. Seem pretty cheesy. I guess we won't be able to get away from Blues Clues, which is fine. But I really liked the clothes with stars on them and especially anything dealing with space or a space ship. So maybe that will be the clothes theme. Still going with the pastoral sheep and bunnies for the eventual nursery since hopefully that will last through multiple kids. But the space stuff will be this child's thing.
Gotta get serious about the boy name now. We have two names (with middle names) that we like but we're not sold on either one. We think we can come up with something better.
Still feeling good. Starting to notice my ankles getting a little swollen and I'm going the bathroom more. I flew to Boston over the weekend to visit my friend (and trainer!) Jen K. I could really tell the difference in the circulation in my legs during the flight. And it was only an hour. I need to stop cross my legs as much and putting my feet up. Jen and I had a great time in Boston. We walked around a lot on Saturday morning and watched some World Cup games and went to the movies and a museum. I didn't even crash when I got home. I have slept more this week though. But I did get up this morning and exercise! And we went to the pool last night.
Just last week I started to notice my pants being too tight. I started using this expander thing that my sister bought me. It's worked really well. This week I've worn just my bigger pants and that still works. No maternity clothes yet and hopefully I can hold out for about a month (with the expander things to help) until I get some maternity clothes from my sister. Going to FL July 21-24th. My sister is ready to deliver any moment although her due date wasn't until July 10th. Hopefully she'll have the baby next week, just not on my birthday....:)
I told my friend Alison (who will be at camp with us in August) last week. I also told my prayer group at work. I think that's everyone now. (Martin also told his friend Brian this weekend when he went to visit him). Now we have to go around again telling everyone it's a boy. I think I may stick to email for this news.
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
IT'S A BOY....(within a 95% confidence interval)
All is well according to the sonogram. It was really amazing seeing the face and watching him move his arms and legs. He even yawned while we were watching. I started to cry...
Only got one good shot of the between the legs view so that's why she said she was only 95% sure. But with that one shot she pointed it out to us.
He was moving around a lot during the sonogram.
Heartbeat was 139 bpm this time. Oh, and my due date according to the sonogram was moved up to November 4th.
Only got one good shot of the between the legs view so that's why she said she was only 95% sure. But with that one shot she pointed it out to us.
He was moving around a lot during the sonogram.
Heartbeat was 139 bpm this time. Oh, and my due date according to the sonogram was moved up to November 4th.
Friday, June 09, 2006
Update - Week 19
Still feeling good this week. My stomach is getting really hard but not really showing yet. I've gained 2 lbs so far. Baby Center says baby is as long as a small zucchini. (Must be the kind you find in NVA Giants because in PA the zucchinis are much bigger and better.)
Martin and I went for a bike ride on Saturday - 22 miles! I felt really good and I didn't even crash the next day. I've determined that my fatique is totally random. Or at least based more on my eating which I'm being more aware of now. Got some more exercise last week when I had to park my car far from the metro at a friends house since the lot was full. I think I do more walking than I realize with my commute. Not enough for me to feel like I'm exercising but enough to keep me active during pregnancy. I still should do more exercising, esp. weights.
Update on the pediatrician search...I found another recommendation on the dc urban moms website. It was for a practice in seven corners, near where I used to live when I first moved to DC. I checked my insurance company's website and they were on there. But as I found out earlier that doesn't mean much. There were like 36 doctors listed in this practice. They have separate waiting rooms for sick and healthy kids and some of the doctors have privaledges at Fair Oaks so it sounded really good. I called and asked if they were taking new patients. The lady said well, what insurance do you have (oh, no, not again) and I told her but this time she said yes! She also indicated that they don't have a waiting list so I can just call back later to make an appointment to meet the doctor in October. They have free "expectant parent" visits. The receptionist was really nice too - a big plus for me. So I think we'll still ask around but now I know there's a least one good practice that we can get into.
I told my boss's boss this week. He was very nice and told me about his girls (ages 5 and almost 2) and being a parent. I think he's going to be a good ally. He said anything they need to do to keep me here and happy they will do. So that's really good. I started trying to contact the HR people too. Just getting a hold of someone over there is a project. I was encouraged by something on OPM's website though that sounded like to switch to part time I just needed to pick the number of hours (between 16 and 32) and get people here to fill out the form and sign off on it. Hopefully then all the calculations (salary, leave, insurance coverage) are done somewhere else automatically depending on the number of hours. I thought I would have less flexibility in choosing the number of hours to make it easy to calculate my leave for example. Maybe I'll try to keep it to even numbers just so I can keep track of it.
Stuff I've been thinking about...how much are we really going to use a stroller, especially in the early months which will be winter (i.e., do we need a "travel system'?) Along with that I'm trying to imagine where the baby will be when he/she is not sleeping or nursing or in the car. And should we try to hold the baby as much as possible (or as much as our backs/arms will allow us)? In the genre of "natural mothering" is this issue of baby carrying or baby wearing. See link. So what do y'all think of it?
I think Martin and I should probably read a parenting book or two in prep for the baby as we won't have time afterwards. Got some good suggestions from Catherine so that's next on the prep list.
Had my flower girl's family over for dinner last Friday which was really fun. I was drilling Linda with questions about birth and breastfeeding (her mom was a Le Leche Leaque councelor). Always good to see parents in action too.
Also been thinking more about the birth and how that relates to my low blood pressure. Something to ask the dr about next time. Getting excited for the sonogram on Wednesday!
PS Oh, we took the fan to the ladies house on Sunday. She wasn't home but the guy that lives with her was. He was very nice and we told him the story of how we got the fan. He said it was luck and I said I thought God really wanted them to have the fan. He was really excited to tell the lady about the fan so hopefully he'll tell her that story. It wasn't nearly as big a deal as I was thinking it might be - in a good and bad way I guess. It was easy enough but then I was a little disappointed that we didn't get into a conversation about God. I guess I was thinking with something like this that there would be more opportunity, like God was doing something big. And he still could. She contacted my volunteer coordinator and wanted to send a thank you card to who donated the fan.
Martin and I went for a bike ride on Saturday - 22 miles! I felt really good and I didn't even crash the next day. I've determined that my fatique is totally random. Or at least based more on my eating which I'm being more aware of now. Got some more exercise last week when I had to park my car far from the metro at a friends house since the lot was full. I think I do more walking than I realize with my commute. Not enough for me to feel like I'm exercising but enough to keep me active during pregnancy. I still should do more exercising, esp. weights.
Update on the pediatrician search...I found another recommendation on the dc urban moms website. It was for a practice in seven corners, near where I used to live when I first moved to DC. I checked my insurance company's website and they were on there. But as I found out earlier that doesn't mean much. There were like 36 doctors listed in this practice. They have separate waiting rooms for sick and healthy kids and some of the doctors have privaledges at Fair Oaks so it sounded really good. I called and asked if they were taking new patients. The lady said well, what insurance do you have (oh, no, not again) and I told her but this time she said yes! She also indicated that they don't have a waiting list so I can just call back later to make an appointment to meet the doctor in October. They have free "expectant parent" visits. The receptionist was really nice too - a big plus for me. So I think we'll still ask around but now I know there's a least one good practice that we can get into.
I told my boss's boss this week. He was very nice and told me about his girls (ages 5 and almost 2) and being a parent. I think he's going to be a good ally. He said anything they need to do to keep me here and happy they will do. So that's really good. I started trying to contact the HR people too. Just getting a hold of someone over there is a project. I was encouraged by something on OPM's website though that sounded like to switch to part time I just needed to pick the number of hours (between 16 and 32) and get people here to fill out the form and sign off on it. Hopefully then all the calculations (salary, leave, insurance coverage) are done somewhere else automatically depending on the number of hours. I thought I would have less flexibility in choosing the number of hours to make it easy to calculate my leave for example. Maybe I'll try to keep it to even numbers just so I can keep track of it.
Stuff I've been thinking about...how much are we really going to use a stroller, especially in the early months which will be winter (i.e., do we need a "travel system'?) Along with that I'm trying to imagine where the baby will be when he/she is not sleeping or nursing or in the car. And should we try to hold the baby as much as possible (or as much as our backs/arms will allow us)? In the genre of "natural mothering" is this issue of baby carrying or baby wearing. See link. So what do y'all think of it?
I think Martin and I should probably read a parenting book or two in prep for the baby as we won't have time afterwards. Got some good suggestions from Catherine so that's next on the prep list.
Had my flower girl's family over for dinner last Friday which was really fun. I was drilling Linda with questions about birth and breastfeeding (her mom was a Le Leche Leaque councelor). Always good to see parents in action too.
Also been thinking more about the birth and how that relates to my low blood pressure. Something to ask the dr about next time. Getting excited for the sonogram on Wednesday!
PS Oh, we took the fan to the ladies house on Sunday. She wasn't home but the guy that lives with her was. He was very nice and we told him the story of how we got the fan. He said it was luck and I said I thought God really wanted them to have the fan. He was really excited to tell the lady about the fan so hopefully he'll tell her that story. It wasn't nearly as big a deal as I was thinking it might be - in a good and bad way I guess. It was easy enough but then I was a little disappointed that we didn't get into a conversation about God. I guess I was thinking with something like this that there would be more opportunity, like God was doing something big. And he still could. She contacted my volunteer coordinator and wanted to send a thank you card to who donated the fan.
addition to the ruby tuesday
I forgot to mention another reason Tuesday was such a good day. My volunteer coordinator (Jennifer) emailed me that day to say that she had a case where there was a women who needed a fan. She was denied cooling assistance from the state and couldn't get one from the Salvation Army. So Jennifer asked if my church could help out. (This was one reason I wanted to do the financial education volunteering - to be more connected to the poor/needy in our area and be able to help them, possibly using the assistance fund that our church has.) So I contacted the guys that run the fund and they said sure and the one guy said that just last week his neighbor had asked him if he wanted a fan because he got one from work and couldn't use it! I was so excited to see how God provided. So I'm going to get the fan and deliver it tomorrow. Although now I'm nervous. I guess I thought one of the deacons would go with me (okay, one is - my husband - but he's just going to be there for moral support). I want to communicate to the woman my initial excitement over the fan and how God worked the situation out. And to ask if she has anything we could pray for her about. Not knowing much about the woman, this is pretty scary for me. I'm not a quick thinker and I often feel like I miss opportunities to share my faith in God. Even talking about how we got the fan is something that's not the norm for me. I don't get excited about much and don't express my excitement much or in a dynamic way at all. I've been thinking about it all week. I have a plan of what to say and my husband says I should just trust that God will use me and bless the situation and if He doesn't then I've still done what I've been called to do. Plus, he's like, you're bringing her a fan that she needs, what do you think she's going to do you - be mean? I had some folks ask me for directions this morning. I was totally comfortable talking to them and delighted to help them. I should have the same attitude tomorrow and not be nervous. Please pray to that end.
Our baby is the size of a "large sweet potato"
I always find the fruit/veggie comparisons amusing on baby center's weekly update. They also say that the baby is probably moving a lot now. My doctor asked me on Monday if I felt the baby yet. I said not really. I thought I had, maybe a few times. He said that that's how it starts and eventually you'll recognize it as the baby. If you gently tap the top of your hand that's sort of what it feels like to me, only it's coming from inside my abdoman, right below my belly button. It only last a short time so by the time I'm like, hmm, is that the baby, the feeling is gone.
Baby Center also said it's time to start wearing bigger clothes. I'm realizing that I've been wearing clothes that have been too big on me for the past two years. Two years ago, before getting married, I lost 15 pounds and never bought new clothes. So I've been fortunate in that i'm still able to wear most of my clothes. My sister bought me this pants expander thing so that should help for a while yet. One thing that I am going to have to buy now though is some new bras. I've been told that's the only way that you can tell that I'm pregnant now - because I'm getting more top heavy. So I've figured out a way to get Martin to take me shopping - promise to go on a bike ride with him afterwards. So we're going to the Leesburg Outlets on Saturday and then doing the west-most section of the W&OD trail. There's a LeggsHanesBaliPlatex outlet where i've gone before so hopefully they will have something that fits. I don't even know what size is bigger than what I'm wearing now - E? F? DDD?
Also, some news about my sister. Apparently the doctor thinks she will deliver at least a week earlier than her due date. So I might have a niece or nephew that shares my birth month (or even day!). And so they might even find out the gender of their baby before we do if she delivers really early. We'll see. Still planning on visiting them in July though.
Baby Center also said it's time to start wearing bigger clothes. I'm realizing that I've been wearing clothes that have been too big on me for the past two years. Two years ago, before getting married, I lost 15 pounds and never bought new clothes. So I've been fortunate in that i'm still able to wear most of my clothes. My sister bought me this pants expander thing so that should help for a while yet. One thing that I am going to have to buy now though is some new bras. I've been told that's the only way that you can tell that I'm pregnant now - because I'm getting more top heavy. So I've figured out a way to get Martin to take me shopping - promise to go on a bike ride with him afterwards. So we're going to the Leesburg Outlets on Saturday and then doing the west-most section of the W&OD trail. There's a LeggsHanesBaliPlatex outlet where i've gone before so hopefully they will have something that fits. I don't even know what size is bigger than what I'm wearing now - E? F? DDD?
Also, some news about my sister. Apparently the doctor thinks she will deliver at least a week earlier than her due date. So I might have a niece or nephew that shares my birth month (or even day!). And so they might even find out the gender of their baby before we do if she delivers really early. We'll see. Still planning on visiting them in July though.
Wednesday, June 07, 2006
Update - Week 18
Ugh, I can't believe this. I just typed a really long entry and it didn't post right so now I have to start over.
A lot has happened this week which I covered in some other post. But here's the regular update stuff. Feeling really good this week. My back even feels better. I did the Denise Austin workout tape on Tuesday morning. It's whimpy but it's good because I don't sweat enough to have to wash my hair afterwards and because it's short, so I can do it without being late for work. The tape is also good because since the footwork is easy she has you doing stuff with your arms the whole time so it's a good upper body work out. It also really loosened up my back which is why I think it feels better.
I realized on Saturday that I'm still prone to exhaustion and that I need to make sure I eat enough. After going to a picnic and then to babies r us and the grocery store we came home and I just crashed. I could barely get up to eat. Thankfully all we had to do that night was red up (straighten up, for the non-SWAP folks) the house which i was able to do on Monday and Tuesday. Saturday night we just watched a movie (Fun with Dick and Jane) and then I was fine on Sunday when we had lunch with Nancy and Duncan.
I found out that the pediatrician that was recommended to me does not take our insurance for new patients. Apparently they used to take it and will still take it if you're an existing patient which is why i found them on my insurance company's website. So back to square one on that.
Beside telling the folks at the wedding and the crew at work, I also called my former boss and friend/mentor Lisa to tell her. Through a conversation with her and with Nancy I was thinking more about why I think I'd prefer to have a girl. Girls tend (I'm totally generalizing here so bare with me) to like structure. They can be disciplined/trained more easily and earlier. I like structure and discipline so I'd like that. Examples of girls who do well with structure - my sunday school class (I've had just girls lately and it's been great - they color and do the craft and listen), Lea (my flower girl who I babysat), and Amelie (Nancy's daughter who Nancy said has a much longer attention span than her friend who is a boy). Of course there are boys who like structure too (Calvin). In fact, what made me think of this is when Lisa reminded me of my last summer at camp when I was the boss to two completely different personalities (Kyle and Angie - the bride from last weekend) where the guy was the one who was more structured. Being Kyle's boss was easy. But i learned so much being Angie's boss about respecting different people's personalities and learning from them and learning how to motivate people to use their gifts when they are different from mine. One of the things I've been praying about is that I would learn a lot from and be outdone as far as being a Christian by my child. So bring on the boy! (But the little girls' clothes are soooo cute!!)
A lot has happened this week which I covered in some other post. But here's the regular update stuff. Feeling really good this week. My back even feels better. I did the Denise Austin workout tape on Tuesday morning. It's whimpy but it's good because I don't sweat enough to have to wash my hair afterwards and because it's short, so I can do it without being late for work. The tape is also good because since the footwork is easy she has you doing stuff with your arms the whole time so it's a good upper body work out. It also really loosened up my back which is why I think it feels better.
I realized on Saturday that I'm still prone to exhaustion and that I need to make sure I eat enough. After going to a picnic and then to babies r us and the grocery store we came home and I just crashed. I could barely get up to eat. Thankfully all we had to do that night was red up (straighten up, for the non-SWAP folks) the house which i was able to do on Monday and Tuesday. Saturday night we just watched a movie (Fun with Dick and Jane) and then I was fine on Sunday when we had lunch with Nancy and Duncan.
I found out that the pediatrician that was recommended to me does not take our insurance for new patients. Apparently they used to take it and will still take it if you're an existing patient which is why i found them on my insurance company's website. So back to square one on that.
Beside telling the folks at the wedding and the crew at work, I also called my former boss and friend/mentor Lisa to tell her. Through a conversation with her and with Nancy I was thinking more about why I think I'd prefer to have a girl. Girls tend (I'm totally generalizing here so bare with me) to like structure. They can be disciplined/trained more easily and earlier. I like structure and discipline so I'd like that. Examples of girls who do well with structure - my sunday school class (I've had just girls lately and it's been great - they color and do the craft and listen), Lea (my flower girl who I babysat), and Amelie (Nancy's daughter who Nancy said has a much longer attention span than her friend who is a boy). Of course there are boys who like structure too (Calvin). In fact, what made me think of this is when Lisa reminded me of my last summer at camp when I was the boss to two completely different personalities (Kyle and Angie - the bride from last weekend) where the guy was the one who was more structured. Being Kyle's boss was easy. But i learned so much being Angie's boss about respecting different people's personalities and learning from them and learning how to motivate people to use their gifts when they are different from mine. One of the things I've been praying about is that I would learn a lot from and be outdone as far as being a Christian by my child. So bring on the boy! (But the little girls' clothes are soooo cute!!)
a ruby tuesday
Just thought I'd share my day yesterday with y'all. It was good day (aside from the 1.75 hour commute on the way home - which all the good stuff trumps). On my way into work, I saw the first dogs. Closer than I ever had - no fence between us. I thought I had my camera in my purse but I didn't or else I would have posted some pics. I would have pet them but Barney was taking off down the alley between Treasury and the WH and Mrs. Beazley was going nuts over the sniffing dog that just went passed in the SS van. The two (yes, two!) official federal presidential dog walkers didn't seem to mind too much that Barney was off to the races. I guess they figured the SS would stop him from getting too far.
I get into work (oh, need to mention that I hadn't told my boss about the pregnancy yet at this point - Monday, when I was going to tell him, was a busy day at work) ready to tell the boss man and get an email from him saying that he won't be in at least until the afternoon because he was in court. I figured he had jury duty but then was reminded by his secretary that this was for this crazy case that he had told us about where he was a witness for the defense. His neighbor was charged with public drunkness and resisting arrest when he got beligerent after complaining about these cable guys who were working after midnight (the man didn't think they were really cable guys even after the police told him they were). Anyway, the guy ended up copping a plea to a lesser offense and my boss made it into the office before the time staff lunch ended at 1pm. I got asked to go to a congressional hearing on the Hill at 2pm and I had to leave at 1:30 so I had from 1-1:30 to tell him. I figured it was a good time since he was in a good mood about not having to testify and telling us all about his court experience and because he wasn't entralled in some project at that time. Still, I was really nervous - my heart was beating out of my chest. But I did it. I think I freaked my boss out in the way I introduced it. I asked if I could talk to him about an adminstrative issue and I shut his office door and said I had some news. He thought I was leaving for another job. So the pregnancy announcement was a relief for him. I told him about my expected maturnity leave and that I wanted to cut back on my hours/days when I come back. He was fine with all that and said he was willing to work things out and accomodate and be flexible. He said congratulations and that it was good news. Although I think I could see him thinking about how this would affect the office and that it would be a pain. Maybe I'm just reading into it too much. Plus, I guess, what's he going to do? And this is better than me leaving. Anyway, I'm glad that's over. Although I still have to come up with proposal for cutting back my hours. I didn't tell him what I was thinking exactly.
The hearing on the Hill went well and I felt like the expert because I went with this legislative affairs person who I was able to school on the issue. So that was fun. And it was fun telling others in the office. My boss's secretary gave me a big hug and was very excited. I was afraid that I was starting to show but it seems that no one caught on because of that. One guy (this happened today so I guess its not part of the ruby tuesday) said he knew it because I had been glowing the past few weeks. He also said another hint was that I hadn't gotten my hair highlighted again (when the roots started growing in from my highlights that I got a year ago). That is one thing I would not have expected a guy to pick up on. He said specifically it wasn't because I was showing because I wasn't.
When I got home yesterday, there was a package waiting for me - the baby bargains book! My friend Nancy got it for me and it was delivered so quickly! Started thumbing through that at breakfast this morning.
So that was my fun day.
I get into work (oh, need to mention that I hadn't told my boss about the pregnancy yet at this point - Monday, when I was going to tell him, was a busy day at work) ready to tell the boss man and get an email from him saying that he won't be in at least until the afternoon because he was in court. I figured he had jury duty but then was reminded by his secretary that this was for this crazy case that he had told us about where he was a witness for the defense. His neighbor was charged with public drunkness and resisting arrest when he got beligerent after complaining about these cable guys who were working after midnight (the man didn't think they were really cable guys even after the police told him they were). Anyway, the guy ended up copping a plea to a lesser offense and my boss made it into the office before the time staff lunch ended at 1pm. I got asked to go to a congressional hearing on the Hill at 2pm and I had to leave at 1:30 so I had from 1-1:30 to tell him. I figured it was a good time since he was in a good mood about not having to testify and telling us all about his court experience and because he wasn't entralled in some project at that time. Still, I was really nervous - my heart was beating out of my chest. But I did it. I think I freaked my boss out in the way I introduced it. I asked if I could talk to him about an adminstrative issue and I shut his office door and said I had some news. He thought I was leaving for another job. So the pregnancy announcement was a relief for him. I told him about my expected maturnity leave and that I wanted to cut back on my hours/days when I come back. He was fine with all that and said he was willing to work things out and accomodate and be flexible. He said congratulations and that it was good news. Although I think I could see him thinking about how this would affect the office and that it would be a pain. Maybe I'm just reading into it too much. Plus, I guess, what's he going to do? And this is better than me leaving. Anyway, I'm glad that's over. Although I still have to come up with proposal for cutting back my hours. I didn't tell him what I was thinking exactly.
The hearing on the Hill went well and I felt like the expert because I went with this legislative affairs person who I was able to school on the issue. So that was fun. And it was fun telling others in the office. My boss's secretary gave me a big hug and was very excited. I was afraid that I was starting to show but it seems that no one caught on because of that. One guy (this happened today so I guess its not part of the ruby tuesday) said he knew it because I had been glowing the past few weeks. He also said another hint was that I hadn't gotten my hair highlighted again (when the roots started growing in from my highlights that I got a year ago). That is one thing I would not have expected a guy to pick up on. He said specifically it wasn't because I was showing because I wasn't.
When I got home yesterday, there was a package waiting for me - the baby bargains book! My friend Nancy got it for me and it was delivered so quickly! Started thumbing through that at breakfast this morning.
So that was my fun day.
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i changed the settings so anyone can comment now (without setting up a blog). so please do! sorry amy that i didn't do this earlier. but now you have a great blog!
Monday, June 05, 2006
doctors appointment / ultrasound scheduled
Doctors appointment this morning went really well. Didn't even have to get undressed for this one - it was really quick. My iron levels and blood pressure were all good. Heard the heartbeat again. Still about 150 bpm. Got the order for the ultrasound. June 21st at 3:25. So that's when we'll find out the gender, Lord willing. So you only have two more weeks to get your votes in (see post below).
Self-Proclaimed Queen of Details
We found out on Memorial Day that the wedding we were planning on going to on the 3rd was actually on the 2nd! We were buying the gift in BB&B and the customer service rep asked for the wedding date and I said the 3rd and she's like, "hmm, funny, this says the 2nd." "Oh, that must be wrong," said I, the self-proclaimed queen of details. Well, sure enough, went home and checked the invite - June 2nd! I will chalk this one up to the pregnancy. Otherwise, I don't know how I would have missed that one.
I had a doctors appointment that day that I got reschedule to today (Monday) and had to take off a half day of work on Friday last minute but we made it to the wedding. Glad we did too. It was really fun and we got to see lots of friends I hardly ever see - Kyle, the Williams, Steph S., Charity, and the bride Angie of course. Got to tell all of them in person about me being pregnant. That was fun too.
I had a doctors appointment that day that I got reschedule to today (Monday) and had to take off a half day of work on Friday last minute but we made it to the wedding. Glad we did too. It was really fun and we got to see lots of friends I hardly ever see - Kyle, the Williams, Steph S., Charity, and the bride Angie of course. Got to tell all of them in person about me being pregnant. That was fun too.
Update - Week 17
Sorry this is late....so still feeling much better. Had some lower back aches and constipation but other than that I'm feeling really good. I think exercising will help the back pain some but I've been slow in getting back on the horse. Except on the weekends. The Saturday before memorial day Martin and I did two bike rides (for a total of about 25 miles). Then went hiking/fast walking on Sunday. And was in the pool Sunday and Monday for a bit. But need to do more during the week. Got some pregnancy exercise videos (old school ones - Denise Austin and Kathy Smith, both from the late 80s/early 90s). I'll probably get the FitMama one too. I can still do my Core Secrets workout on the ball too. And now that I'm feeling better I could get back on the elipse or bike. I tend to get a little dizzy when I exercise though so unfortunately I have to take it easier than I'd like. So maybe I'll stick with the pregnancy workouts. Might be good too since I have haven't done much exercise in the last month.
Finally told the Winstons this week as I ran into Tor on the metro. Wanted to tell Linda and Lea in person but oh well. We'll see them soon when we get together for dinner. We told Martin's college friends too via email.
On Tuesday we went for a tour of the maturity ward at Fair Oaks with our friends John and Laura B. who are expecting their first around the same time we are and who will be delivering at the same hospital. It was so fun. It's amazing the security measure (sensors on the babies so they don't get stolen from the hospital) and the pampering that they do now-a-days. There's Internet access in the private recovery rooms and they serve tea and cinnamon rolls at 4pm each day. They also have room service. The labor and delivery rooms are pretty big and they don't see too "hospitally." They also keep the baby with you right after birth more than I expected. I was very pleased with the tour.
Laura B. and I found out that we need to start looking for pediatricians now because they might have 6 month long waiting list. So I started asking around. I have 2 friends (Laura H. and Linda) that go to the same practice and they also take our insurance so I'll probably check that one out. I want to see a doctors who's not pill/test happy. Like they want to do every test or prescribe something for the smallest thing. So hopefully that will be the case.
Also starting to look at all the baby products out there. That's pretty overwhelming. Going to get the Baby Bargains book (thanks to Nancy!) so that should help.
Finally told the Winstons this week as I ran into Tor on the metro. Wanted to tell Linda and Lea in person but oh well. We'll see them soon when we get together for dinner. We told Martin's college friends too via email.
On Tuesday we went for a tour of the maturity ward at Fair Oaks with our friends John and Laura B. who are expecting their first around the same time we are and who will be delivering at the same hospital. It was so fun. It's amazing the security measure (sensors on the babies so they don't get stolen from the hospital) and the pampering that they do now-a-days. There's Internet access in the private recovery rooms and they serve tea and cinnamon rolls at 4pm each day. They also have room service. The labor and delivery rooms are pretty big and they don't see too "hospitally." They also keep the baby with you right after birth more than I expected. I was very pleased with the tour.
Laura B. and I found out that we need to start looking for pediatricians now because they might have 6 month long waiting list. So I started asking around. I have 2 friends (Laura H. and Linda) that go to the same practice and they also take our insurance so I'll probably check that one out. I want to see a doctors who's not pill/test happy. Like they want to do every test or prescribe something for the smallest thing. So hopefully that will be the case.
Also starting to look at all the baby products out there. That's pretty overwhelming. Going to get the Baby Bargains book (thanks to Nancy!) so that should help.
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