Being Mom
Now relegated to Blogblivion...Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Tired.
We went for a walk today.
I was hoping for just a walk, but it wasn’t long before I realized that the path to a happy two-year-old ran through the playground. We went, we played, we ambled home while the baby slept. 2 and a half hours and 3 and a half miles later, the little darlings finally decided I was allowed to sit down. Outside. While they played in the sandbox for a bit longer.
It was a damned beautiful day. I don’t know what in hell we’ll do when winter gets here. Maybe Sadie will still be cooking obsessively by then…
BTW, this Gmaps Pedometer thingy? Pretty cool.
Thursday, May 25, 2006
My Mini Me
Me at 18 months and Sadie at 18 months. No resemblance at all.
Monday, May 01, 2006
Ummm, yeah.
I had something else to say today. I also have two small children. It’s like that, you know?
Thursday, April 20, 2006
And Valerie? She’s got her priorities straight.
I can tell you all this without fear of jinxing anything because I know full well she’ll likely not do this again for a while, so I just had to share. Valerie went down at ten o’clock last night and woke up at...get this...quarter to six this morning. You know that weird, dizzy, groggy feeling you get when you sleep longer than usual? Oh, yeah. I am so there.
Monday, April 17, 2006
It’s probably because I’m cruel.
When I see headlines like 80 percent of teens don’t get enough sleep, the former teenager in me feels sorry for them, and the social scientist in me thinks that it’s a structural problem, that we have our teenagers overbooked and up too early, and the exhausted parent in me laughs and laughs and wants to shout from the rooftops, “Get used to it! You will never, never in your life have enough sleep. Ever. If it’s not your kids, it’s your job, and if its not your job, you’re having fun. This is the rest of your life, you poor bastards!”
Ahem.
Monday, March 27, 2006
Yow! Yikes! Zap!
The corollary to Jay’s rough weekend and now week is that I’ve been home alone full-time with both kids for the first time.
Wow.
All I can say is that parenting two under two is a full-contact sport. I’ve never been so exhausted in my life. I’m managing to get some stuff done around the house, though, in between nursing sessions and rounds of “The Wheels on the Bus,” which pleases me no end. And this may be by far the hardest job I’ve ever had (and I’ve had some doozies, let me tell you), but it’s also the most fun. Which is not to say that I wouldn’t lie, cheat, and steal for a full night’s sleep, but it’s worth it in a way I can’t describe.
Yeah, yeah, I’m a walking cliche. But they get that way because they’re true.
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
So the baby?
Doing great. Had the one-week check this morning and the hungry little beast is almost back to her birthweight already. Popped over to have my staples out while we were at it..woo-hoo! Much more comfortable now. Overdid it today and am paying for it, though. Recovery is such a pain! I’m lousy at sitting around waiting to heal. I feel like dancing. I have a beautiful baby, an incredible toddler, and a husband you all should be wicked jealous of me over. And my wedding ring went back on today! Next step, pants without panels. Heh.
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
Spouses good for each other? Who knew?
From the department of the obvious:
Married women under extreme stress who reach out and hold their husbands’ hands feel immediate relief, neuroscientists have found, in what they say is the first study of how human touch affects the neural response to threats.
Let me tell you, when I had to have a Cesarean with Sadie the worst part was the time that Jay and I were separated while he was getting dressed and I was getting prepped. One of the few things I remember from that day was the physical sensation of calm that came over me and replaced the fear when they let him into the OR and he grabbed my hand. I couldn’t see him; hell, I couldn’t see anything but the drape. But the feeling of his hand in mine at that moment is a memory that has seared so deep I’ll never, never forget it. Just having him there was far, far better than any drug could possibly have been.
Monday, January 02, 2006
Yuck.
Bleh.
The funny bit, from Chikage Windler’s comments:
During the day today would be a good time to doublecheck your supply of ice melt, make sure your snow shovel & scraper are on hand, and reschedule any non-essential appointments that you have tomorrow.
ROFL! In what fucking universe can you just reschedule everything? And, given that it is now winter and this is New England, how much good is that likely to do anyway? It’s just going to muck on you again next week.
By the way, Sadie’s 15 month checkup is tomorrow morning, and I have three...yes THREE, doctor’s appointments of my own that can’t really be rescheduled anyway. So if you see some asshole driving around out there, it’s me. Ought to be great for my blood pressure, LOL!
Saturday, December 31, 2005
Finding Nemo: a very short review.
No pregnant woman should ever watch a movie that starts with your wife and 400 of your kids getting killed, continues with the one kid you’ve got left being kidnapped, and ends with you both narrowly escaping death thus necessitating a very touching scene indeed, even if you do get to go home and be happy and actually like each other after all of this is done.
Just sayin’.
(And no, I hadn’t seen it before. I know, I know.)
Friday, December 23, 2005
Why the words “Public Health” have come to give me blinding headaches.
This makes me really angry. Not because it’s a ridiculous and overbearing regulation, which it is. Not because it’s an insult to women everywhere, who are presumed to be too stupid to feed their own children. And not because I want the formula. I never used the sample from last time, ferheavenssake.
No, I’m pissed about the diaper bag. I was so looking forward to getting another one. That crappy cheap black eeeeevil-formula-company diaper bag has been my favorite bag for the last six months. I can’t imagine life without it. I was really, really looking forward to getting another one and thus having the continued existence of the bag ensured. It’s holding up pretty well, but it’s always good to have a backup, dammit.
Via Blogging Baby, where comments are running about half and half for and against.
Thursday, December 22, 2005
This must be some sort of pregnant thing.
I just made up dough for another batch of the Famous Sugar Cookies of Doom™. Ambition that extreme has to be hormone-induced.
I also did four loads of laundry today. I *heart* my new washer and dryer, I really do. They kick ass.
Oh, and I cleaned part of the bathroom. And caught up the dishes.
Definitely hormones. Heh.
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Silly Monkey
My parents sent Sadie a huge box of books for her birthday a couple of months ago, and I’ve been bringing them out slowly since then. Whe she seems bored with the selection she has, I add one to the mix. Last night Eight Silly Monkeys joined the group, and to rave reviews. So much so that when I tried to put it back on the bookshelf, she broke down in tears. She took it to Jay to have him read it to her, too, then burst into tears again when he only read it once. She held it while he read her her bedtime book and looked at it, instead. I presume that she fell asleep holding it...there was no getting it away from her so it went to bed with her. And this morning, when I went in to get her up, the first thing she did was hand me that book.
The girl, she is opinionated. Heh.
I guess I know what I’m doing today, lol.
Thursday, November 17, 2005
26 weeks
And the remaining 13 are going to be really,really long, judging by the number of times today I’ve said, “Sadie, that’s your sister, not a stepladder.”
She’s currently throwing a tantrum because I won’t sit with her until she quits kicking me in the stomach. Sheesh. Like I don’t get that enough from the other one.
Somehow I never pictured my life this way. ROFLMAO!
Monday, November 07, 2005
All is well…
...For those of you who might have been wondering. We were just putting off posting about it because we haven’t coaxed the pictures into the magic box yet. We had a great tech today with much patience who got a couple of really neat 3D pics.
The summary goes: baby measuring perfectly at 49th percentile for gestational age. Peri is moving to Chicago, so will see new peri next time...once a month now. Don’t mind seeing new peri since I showed off how very confused I am sometimes today and I’ll be embarassed forevermore now because I’m like that. Repeat labs at 28 weeks, hardcore monitoring starts at 32 weeks (Happy New Year!), delivery at 38-39 weeks. The holidays are making it impossible to schedule freaking anything, which means the glucose-before-your-next-appointment is going to get done at 26 weeks rather than 28. What can a girl do when her doc is out for a couple of weeks after Thanksgiving? Up a total of 6 pounds for the pregnancy by their scale...I’ve been bouncing all over the place with the weird weather. It warms up, I blow up like a balloon. It cools down, I spend the day running to the restroom. Ah, water retention...lol! Not that I have a thing to complain about in the weight gain department, I just find it sort of funny. My blood pressure was the lowest it’s been in forever. That was actually the lowest reading that particular nurse has ever gotten on me. Woo-hoo! We found out that Sadie freaks out if anybody goes near my belly, be it with Doppler or measuring tape. She had no problem at all watching me get a flu shot, though. Silly girl.
Pictures when Jay gets a chance to mess around with the scanner or camera or some combination of the two…
Saturday, November 05, 2005
Not Just ANY Happy Birthday…
This is the extra special birthday announcement… Deb’s!
Yep, it’s her big day. We’d probably go to Carmen’s, which we haven’t done since just before Sadie was born, but I was practical and bought groceries with the cash I had left pending my client’s check clearing and my being able to get more.
I got her a “birthday present” a few weeks ago, but I had something else in mind that has also been delayed by cash flow. Sheesh. Her requested present is that I catch up the dishes, which I don’t mind. It used to be easy to get a lot of them done while hanging with Sadie as she ate. Now she eats so fast!
And so much. Last night I got a pound of ground sirloin and made it all into three burgers. Sadie got her own, maybe 1/4 to 1/3 the size of Deb’s, which was about 80% the size of mine. Call it a couple inches or so in diameter and half an inch thick, covered with cheese. Served it with ketchup and half a bulkie roll. She devoured it. And a mess of homemade fries, which I made again because the potatoes had to be used. Perhaps a traditional “large fries” worth of them or a tad less. Heck; put that way, the burger Sadie ate was probably the overall amount in a McDonald’s burger, just thicker and less big around.
Was that enough? No. She also had a large glug of apple sauce and two good sized spoonfuls of pumpkin ice cream. She knows both those words; apple sauce and ice cream. But this wasn’t supposed to be a Sadie post, and there’s more, like the fact that she insisted on ceasing her play time in the bath, getting out and getting a diaper on because she knew she was about to poop, and like her knowing what “the remote” is and her fetching it for you if asked, and like her obsession with my hairbrush and wanting to brush her hair, and like her insistence last night on attempting to eat ice cream and apple sauce with a spoon, which in a first she treated as a tool rather than a toy.
The unexpected fresh burger - on a roll no less - and fries were kind of an unexpected birthday surprise for Deb, and she loved the Edy’s pumpkin ice cream. I noticed Peaceful Meadows had pumpkin ice cream now available on their sign by the road, so I thought I’d have to get some one day, even just a pint, so she could try it. I love that and egg nog flavors, both seasonal. Then in Wal-Mart I noticed Edy’s had pumkin. Turns out it’s spicier than I remember Peaceful Meadows being, but still fantastic.
This seems like a good time to mention Deb’s recent observation that there seems to be a generational demarcation in the form of being born before and after the first Star Wars came out. Interesting theory, no? That’s puts both of us in the pre-SW camp, if not in the same traditional generations.
But then, sometimes the traditional demarcations aren’t completely telling. At least, being a baby boomer isn’t. I am technically one, but am worlds apart from someone born in, say, 1948. You would expect that 13 year gap to put Deb and I worlds apart, yet somehow it doesn’t. Which could simply be an indication of choosing well.
Anyway, happy birthday to Deb, the Accidental Jedi, great blogger, Sadie’s cool if sometimes overwhelmed mom (Sadie’ll do that to you), my lovely wife. May there be so many more that we lose count.
Thursday, November 03, 2005
Update: 24 Weeks
(For my darling Margi, who asked so sweetly.)
It’s really hard to believe that we’re this far along already. The time, it doth make like a birdie and fly away. Yikes.
Things are, thank-the-power-of-your-choice, going very well. As of my last appointment a couple of weeks ago, I was still without blood pressure problems and had gained all of two pounds the whole pregnancy, which is actually better than I was doing not-pregnant. Heh. I predict a bit gain next time, though, since we had an awful lot of Halloween candy left over. *grin* Actually, overall this time around seems to be so much easier than it was with Sadie. By this point with her I was sleeping with my feet up on pillows every night to try to get the swelling in my legs and feet down to a manageable level; with this one, no swelling at all so far. See, there are benefits to having a winter baby! I’m much more comfortable all around, though. Apart from a bit of digestive slowness, the occasional nightmare and a case of absolutely raging irritibility that shows no signs of abating any time soon, I feel fantastic, probably better than I did before I got pregnant. Now if I could just get this kid to roll over so her kicking wasn’t directed at my nether regions, we’d be in business, lol!
Next appointments are Monday, starting with a a growth scan at the much-adored-perinatologist’s office and followed by an appointment with the midwife. Hopefully we’ll get a decent picture of the little one this time.
And speaking of pictures, could a pregnancy update be complete without them? First, the view of my toes:
The obligatory belly shot:
And another for good measure and because those panel pants are sooooo attractive:
These were taken Monday, btw.
Sadie Antics: Mommy’s Lament Edition
Oh why, oh why, oh why did I mention within her hearing that I was thinking of showering during her nap? We all know there’s nothing closer to coffee for toddlers than the chance to keep mom from showering…
Wednesday, September 28, 2005
Here and not here, back but not back.
I’m on Jay’s computer, for just long enough to look around the blogs a bit and write this. Sadie’s napping so I’m indulging in a bit of online speedreading. Makes a nice break from trying to find places to put all of our various belongings.
Nothing much new here, really, from where I sit. The pregnancy is going swimmingly so far, with baby pronounced “fabulous,” my bp so normal that she took it twice because she didn’t believe it, and a weight gain so far of nothing. My energy level is back up a bit just in time to put the new place together, and with my computer still without a home it’s been really easy to stay offline even with the DSL back.
And you know what? It’ll probably stay that way.
I’ll set the computer back up, sure. But I have no intention of going back to blogging more than very occasionally, if at all, once that happens.
I discovered something really wild and strange in this period of disconnection: I like my offline life. Better than my online life. And I have a sneaking suspicion that my sudden and glorious blood pressure control owes more than a little to playing with Sadie instead of reading yet another bloggy argument based on [insert insane premise of your choice]. An hour of browsing, I’ve found, makes me pissy and mean all day. It reminds me, actually, of the way I felt when I’d worked retail too long.
Blogging has been very, very good to me. I just don’t want to do it anymore. So I’m not going to.
If I change my mind, you’ll be the first to know.
Thursday, September 15, 2005
17 Weeks
Thursday, September 08, 2005
16 weeks
...and not much to say about it. Just truckin’ along over here. 
Tuesday, September 06, 2005
We’ve definitely got our hands full.
So quick midwife appointment today, since there isn’t much to talk about at 15+ weeks, really. It’s a lovely calm part of pregnancy even for high-riskers like me.
Well, normally it would be. Our offspring, though, are all about the excitement.
We hadn’t heard a heartbeat yet because it was early-ish last time to hear it, so we skipped what would likely be an exercise in frustration. So today was the big day (well, big-ish since I’ve been feeling the little darling on and off for the last week or so so I was pretty sure that all was well in there). Anyway, Jay and Sadie came along since it was a milestone sort of appointment and the nurse brings the doppler in and we get ourselves all excited and...nothing.
Silence.
So the midwife tries, and still nothing.
This is one way to get yourself an extra ultrasound. We were shipped downstairs where we were fit into the schedule in incredibly prompt and friendly fashion. And baby was promptly taught an important lesson: you can hide from the doppler, but the ultrasound folks will find you every time. Heh.
And I thought this pregnancy might be less drama-prone than the last one. LOL! Silly me.
It was also awesome timing in that I’m measuring like four weeks ahead, so the quickie ultrasound set to rest my fears that there might be more than one in there. Whew!
In other news, I’ve lost a couple of pounds, which is shocking, since it seems like all I do is eat. 3 pounds below pre-pregnancy weight at this point, and the lightest I’ve been since I had Sadie. How cool is that?
Thursday, September 01, 2005
15 Weeks
Thursday, August 25, 2005
14 Weeks
I’m feeling both lazy and linky-lurvey, so I’ll send you to what the divine Miss Margi posted at this particular milestone if you’d like the “how your baby is growing” specifics.
All is well. I’m getting more than a touch exasperated with the continued bouts of nausea, but it’s so much better than the first four weeks or so of it that I can’t really complain. With Sadie, I think I had it from weeks 6-10 and then it just went away. Evaporated. Disappeared entirely. This time it started at 6 weeks or so and started getting better at 10 weeks but neglected to get itself completely gone. It’s stuck like Pooh in Rabbit’s doorway and I’m hoping I won’t have to get skinny to make it fit the rest of the way out.
Wow. That was a tortured metaphor. Have I mentioned the brain-scrambling effect is stronger than ever? 
Sadie up and weaned this last week, and now that I’m past the initial adjustment I have to say that I’m glad. My supply was shot anyway, and it’s nice to lose that additional stress on my body. Between the continuing nausea, the meds I’m on for blood pressure, and ragweed season (for which suffering I am forbidden to take anything at all, grumble grumble), I’m sort of a mess. Not always the most pleasant person to be around, either. Heh. I’m hoping that the legendary second-trimester energy fairy visits me soon.
It’s all worth it, of course, and I know I have it fairly easy compared to what it could be. I just miss feeling good. Especially with Sadie to chase around.
Appointment with my primary doc tomorrow. I haven’t been weighed in nearly a month, so it’ll be interesting to see if I gained anything (or too much...I’m expanding so fast I have no sense of whether it’s going to baby or backside). Next midwife appointment on September 6 and the big ultrasound is Spetember 26, so lots of exciting stuff coming up!
Sunday, August 21, 2005
Tempus F*ckit
OR, wow does the time flying kick my ass sometimes.
Sadie fell asleep in the middle of her supper tonight, and so I rescued her from the highchair, changed her, and stood and rocked her and sang in her ear until she drifted back off. I laid her down in her crib and tiptoed out of the room and she’s been sleeping soundly in there ever since.
Pretty normal sort of thing, yes?
But this was the first day that she’s gone a whole day without nursing. She’s never not nursed at bedtime before. I’m happy and proud but I’m so, so sad.
It’s been a big week for the kid. She got two new teeth (#5 and 6, both on bottom), learned to climb onto the couch, figured out how to break into the kitchen (which we quickly babyproofed and turned her loose in), she got to see the ocean for the first time (such as it is in Plymouth, anyway. Heh.), and she’s discovered the joy of taking off her diaper and running around the house naked. She’s so busy it’s unreal.
I think the Baby is officially the Toddler now. Wow.
As for me, in between sentimental sniffles over here, I’m so busy it’s unreal. The darling girl takes a lot of looking after in her current mischievous state of mind. Other than that, just busy being pregnant, which some days feels like a full time job in and of itself, and trying to get the house cleaned back up a bit after the morning sickness slacking I did. 13 weeks and a few days now, so it’s getting better. Yay!
Thursday, August 11, 2005
So freaking excited!
Didn’t get a chance to post this earlier, but I got a letter I’ve really been looking forward to in the mail today. It’s the date for the “big” ultrasound! With the bp issue, I get the whole Level 2/visit to the peri thing, so they’re booked out well in advance and for you by the office, hence the letter (which also has your instructions, since it’s done at the hospital and all). Anyway, we’re currently scheduled for September 26th, which will be about 18 and 1/2 weeks.
Is it too early to ask for open leg vibes?
I absolutely can’t wait to see this little one.
Tuesday, August 09, 2005
12 weeks
From BabyCenter:
How your baby’s growing: Your baby’s hit the 2-inch mark (about the size of a lime) and weighs half an ounce. Her face is beginning to look more human. Her eyes, which started out on the sides of her head, have moved closer together on her face, and her ears are near their final positions on the sides of her head. Your baby’s intestines, which have grown so rapidly that they protrude into the umbilical cord, will start to move into her abdominal cavity about now. Her kidneys are secreting urine into her bladder. Her nerve cells have been multiplying rapidly, and synapses (neurological pathways in the brain) are forming. Your baby may have acquired more reflexes by now, including sucking, and she’ll even squirm if you prod your abdomen, though you still won’t be able to feel her movement for several weeks.
How your life’s changing: Your uterus is rising above your pelvic bones, and your practitioner can now feel the top of it (the fundus) low in your abdomen. Though you probably won’t need maternity clothes for several more weeks yet, you’ve no doubt noticed that your waist is thickening and that you’re more comfortable in looser, less restrictive clothing.
You may also start getting heartburn (also called acid indigestion), a burning sensation that often extends from the bottom of your breastbone to your lower throat. It’s caused by both hormonal and physical changes in your body — and can take the pleasure out of eating a meal or sleeping. Eating small meals and avoiding foods that make the problem worse, such as fried, spicy, or fatty foods, can help.
Start getting heartburn? ROFL! That’s been there for weeks already. Still have the last bits of the ol’ morning sickness. Seems like the last of it is determined to hang on forever!
And maternity clothes? Not needed for several weeks yet? ROFL! I moved into my maternity pants at 7 weeks. Seven. Weeks. And they are so comfy and good. 
Seriously, this time around it was like near-instant belly. Only with all my extra padding, I’m the only one who think it looks pregnant! I hate this part where you look like you’ve just aimlessly been enjoying your supper a bit too much instead of looking like there was a reason for enjoying that supper! Oh, well. As long as I have the comfy pants, who cares?
Anyway, apart from the being-medicated-into-catatonia thing, I’m doing pretty well. And I have no idea why BabyCenter is obsessed with food. Heh.
Monday, August 08, 2005
Couple of things:
1. I like Peter Jennings a hell of a lot more than I used to since he neglected to spend the last few months of his life advocating for research or bitching at people to quit smoking. Man turned out to have some dignity.
2. Remember that meds increase? After a week on the increased dose I’m still getting dizzy when I stand up. I feel like total crap. I am already looking forward to the day that our family is complete and I have a chance of finding a drug that doesn’t announce that it’s working by making me incapable of functioning at more than a not-sitting-in-my-own-bodily-waste sort of level. ‘Cause people, I can tell you before I have it taken that my bp will be high, because if it’s high, I have enough energy to cook dinner. Yeah, it’s really that bad. Jay’s a saint. He really is.
3. Why is it that abnormally cold winters always seem to be followed by abnormally hot summers?
4. I have a half-formed theory about what the hell is wrong with people, anyway, but it’s still half-formed. I’m hoping I can put it all into words someday, because I think it’s sort of interesting. Unfortunately, I’ll have to wait until the next time my bp has crept up but before they fix the meds. ‘Cause the meds also make my head into a big empty cavity where thoughts bounce off the walls without ever colliding in the sort of way that knocks some sense into them. Sort of like those illustrations of Brownian motion in your high school chemistry book. I’m starting to get used to being intellectually neutered, though. I had some ideas about when it might be appropriate to trade quality of life for longetivity, but now that I’m properly medicated I don’t have the energy to care.
5. On top of all of that, I have a summer cold that I can’t take anything more than Tylenol for. My doctor has summarily forbidden me to take any cold or allergy medication whatsoever. Ought to make ragweed season pretty exciting this year.
6. Yeah, I suppose I should quit bitching because the alternatives are worse, but I don’t believe in the Suck Olympics. If one sucky thing sucks less than another sucky thing, that doesn’t mean the first sucky thing doesn’t suck. I don’t believe in the Pain Olympics, either. Or any of that other crap where people try to one-up each other with their suffering. Life is hard, yes? Just because it’s not as hard as it could be or as hard as it has been for someone else doesn’t mean it’s easy.
7. I really don’t remember feeling this bad the first time around. I rather suspect I did, though. I don’t think I left the house unless I really, truly, desperately had to for the last six months. I think maybe it seems worse because A. I have Sadie to chase, and boy does she take chasing, and B. the meds increase hit before the first trimester exhaustion passed so it’s exaggerated. Hopefully between the body getting more used to it and hitting 12 weeks, it’ll be better soon.
8. I had another item, but I’ve forgotten what it was. See what I mean? Heh.
Tuesday, August 02, 2005
Eleven Weeks and Yesterday’s Appointment
How your baby’s growing: Your fig-sized baby is now fully formed — measuring 1 1/2 inches long and weighing in at a quarter of an ounce. His skin is still transparent, allowing many of his blood vessels to show through. Some of his bones are beginning to harden, and tiny toothbuds are starting to appear under his gums. His fingers and toes have separated, and he may soon be able to open and close his fists. He’s already busy kicking and stretching, and his tiny movements are so fluid they look like water ballet. These movements will increase as his body grows and becomes more developed and functional. As his diaphragm develops, your tiny tenant may also start to get the hiccups. Because he’s still so small, though, you won’t feel any of his workouts or intrauterine gulps until sometime between weeks 16 and 20.
I was amazed that I felt Sadie at 16 weeks. Very early for a first baby, but then she was a very violent occupant.
Anyway, all is well. Morning sickness seems finally to be fading (I hope I’m not cursing myself!). I still pee about four times a night, though, which is getting really old. *shrug*
Had an appointment yesterday. All is well except for my blood pressure, which has decided to quit hanging out at borderline and go high again. I’m really grumpy about it. Every time we have to fiddle with the meds it knocks me out, and the crappy sleep has left me borderline catatonic anyway. I’ve got so freaking much to do in the next few weeks and I’m sitting here dizzy and barely able to keep my eyes open. Grrr.
I absolutely love the nurse I see in that office, though. She gets it. She totally gets it. And of course, I absolutely love the midwife I see. She even negotiated the meds increase with my PCP yesterday and left me a message about it herself. Saved me an extra trip in, a copay, and from having to undergo the grilling about what I must be doing wrong (nevermind that we increased meds several times last pregnancy and this is, so far as I can tell, absolutely normal for a hypertensive type). I guess the healthy eating thing must be paying off, though, even if my blood pressure is unimpressed, since I have yet to gain any weight at all. I’m actually down a half pound or so. With Sadie I think I gained about ten pounds in the first trimester. Amazing what some decent food and chasing a toddler around all day will do for ya.
BTW, the good food thing is all Jay. He totally took over the cooking as soon as the nausea hit, enabling me to go on eating things I wouldn’t have been able to otherwise. He’s such an awesome cook.
They’re scheduling my appointment for the “big” ultrasound for middle of September, right about 17 weeks. I should find out exactly when that will be pretty soon. This is where the blood pressure thing isn’t all downside, since this is a Level II with a peri who has a very good machine (and manner...he’s fantastic) indeed. “The Cadillac of ultrasounds” is what one of the midwives called it last time, and it’s totally true. All the extra attention is because the blood pressure can cause growth problems by way of trashing the poor placenta. It’d be nicer to be normal but since I’m not I’ll take a good long look at baby as a consolation prize.
We had a chat about due date, since I couldn’t for the life of me remember what we’d settled on. All along I’ve been using 2/21, since that’s based off date of ovulation, which I happened to know since I was charting at the time (this is the date I’m using to get 11 weeks today). That’s what you get when you plug my O date into an online calculator. Add two days and you get what I figured we’d have as a due date, 2/23. You have those extra two days floating around because that’s the date from LMP (last menstrual period). What I didn’t realize since our dates matched last time is that they use Naegele’s rule, which actually makes my official due date 2/26. I’m not displeased with their date being almost a week later than my date, though. Since the child will be summarily evicted at 39 weeks, setting that 40 week mark a bit further out helps ensure that the poor thing will be fully cooked, so to speak. (As far as I can tell, 40 calendar weeks falls on the 23rd. LMP started on Thursday, the 23rd is a Thursday, see? The 26th is actually a Sunday, or 40 weeks 3 days. It seems that when you get there, though, instead of counting up they count back, so 39 weeks will translate into a week before the due date, or 39 weeks 3 days...or really, 39 weeks 5 days by my count from O. I’m assuming that they won’t do an “elective” C on a Sunday, or before 39 weeks without a specific medical indication [liability insurance, don’t you know], so we’d be looking at the 20th...which is a holiday, so we may end up even later! I wonder if we’ll have to go before that and wind up with an Aquarius, or if we’ll wind up on the due date I originally had and find ourselves proud parents of a Pisces. Anyway, confusing, isn’t it? Especially since all this speculation comes to naught if you go into labor or if something doesn’t go quite right, like happened with Sadie. She made it to 39w3d before her fluid got dangerously low. I have my fingers crossed that whenever that scheduled C happens to be is when this baby comes, but I’m not sure how much hope I have for that. My babies seem to like to keep me jumping from day 1. Heh.)
Anyway, next appointment after Labor Day. We’ll finally be far enough along to hear a heartbeat, so Jay will be coming with me. Yay!
Friday, July 29, 2005
I’m interrupting my break to share this:
I am almost completely positive that my m/s was totally gone by this time with the first one. I feel so cheated. OTOH, it hasn’t been as bad. Hmmmm. Intensity or duration, which is worse? I’ll let you know if it’s still here next week.
Sadie is nuts for pictures of other babies. When I’m wandering around reading mommy-blogs and come across a bunch of pictures, I’ll tell her, “Sadie, babies? Want to see babies?” and she’ll get up off her tushy and come toddling over to stand where she can see and she smiles and talks to the pictures. Too freaking cute.
And last night we had a huge, huge first. She’s been sleeping though since she was about four and a half months, but I’ve always nursed her to sleep. Occasionally, she’ll decide she isn’t going to be tricked that way and she’ll refuse to drift off and she’ll scream for five or ten minutes after she’s put down. Last night, she was fighting it and fighting it and so after a while I laid her down wide awake...at which point she rolled over and went to sleep. Woo-hoo!