Category Archives: Babies ‘n Stuff

look! a baby-looking thing!

Posted on by

As of Saturday, I am officially 13 weeks pregnant. Which means that the painful first trimester is now over. Let us all do a dance of celebration.

Also, I had my second ultrasound today. It’s still too early to tell if this baby is a he or a she, we should find out in another seven weeks or so. I’ve taken to referring to it as a “he” because I have a really strong feeling that it’s going to be a boy. Of course, I could be wrong. Lord knows it wouldn’t be the first time.

Although that reminds me, you know how some women have cute little nicknames for their unborn babies? Things like Peanut, or the Bean, or whatever? I haven’t quite been able to adopt any of those. It doesn’t bother me at all when other women call their babies that, it just doesn’t feel like me. I usually just call it “the baby,” or “the kid,” or sometimes just “it.” Which made me feel very cold and un-maternal, and it bothered me that I couldn’t come up with any sort of nickname that I was comfortable using.

Dave recently started calling it The Sprog. I have no idea what it means – maybe it’s a British thing? – but to my American ears, it sounds like a cross between a spawn and a frog. And considering what we’re dealing with here, that just seems oddly appropriate.

So here’s the latest picture of our little sprog:

He put on quite a little show for us, jumping all around in there. He practically did a somersault. I love this picture because you can see one little leg in mid-kick, and he’s holding one hand up by his face. I know I’m biased, but that is one damn cute little sprog.

and now, some happy news

Posted on by

I started calling my doctor’s office yesterday to try to find out the results of Dave’s cystic fibrosis screen. The nurse finally called me back about a half-hour ago.

Me: [biting my nails and practically vibrating out of my chair with anxiety]
Her: Umm… Are you sure your husband is ok with us giving you his results?
Me: [screaming] YES!!! [calmer] I mean, um, of course it’s fine. The only reason he had to get the test done was because of me, right?
Her: Well, I don’t have a signed consent form, so I have to ask. But I figure he probably won’t sue us… [laughing]

She seriously dragged out the pleasantries way longer than necessary. By which, I mean, about 30 seconds.

Dave doesn’t have the gene for cystic fibrosis. There is no possible way that this baby, or any future children that we might have, could have it.

It’s the strangest feeling. I’ve been on edge about it for so long that when the nurse told me, I thought I might burst into tears from finally feeling like I could stop holding my breath. I probably would’ve cried, except I’m at work, and that is just never a good idea.

I’ll hold in the tears until I’m driving home. Because that’s the kind of safe driver I am.

Now I have to try to wrap my head around the idea that we might actually have ourselves a real, live baby next year. I hadn’t really let myself think about that too much yet because I kept waiting for the Jinx Fairy to strike me down.

A baby. Huh. Whaddya know.

Ok, deep breath in, deep breath out… And for the record, I am *so* going to do my prenatal yoga DVD when I get home tonight. You cannot imagine how much I desparately need it.

the term "sister-wives" does still freak me out, though

Posted on by

One of the perks of my starting a part-time job was that it would give me a lot of free time to do the million or so projects around the house that need to be done before the baby gets here. I mean, three-day weekends every week, right? And even the four days of the week that I do work, I’m only there for 5 or 6 hours.

Clearly, with so much time on my hands, I should be getting all kinds of things done. But, HA! My butt hardly left the couch for three solid days this weekend.

First of all, I had DVR’ed the entire first season of Big Love a long time ago, but I had never gotten around to watching it. Have you seen this show? Do you know how addictive it is? I watched all twelve episodes in three days. The last few nights, I’ve even been dreaming about polygamists, although luckily, they’ve been the types of dreams where I’m an observer, not where I’m actually involved in what’s happening. But man, that show is awesome, and I’m totally annoyed that I don’t even know when season two is going to begin.

One scary moment while doing my “Big Love” marathon yesterday – I got up off the couch to refill my water glass. I had a head rush when I stood up, but I get those fairly often. (Moreso since I got pregnant.) Usually I can just grab on to the wall or some nearby piece of furniture to steady myself until it passes. Yesterday, though, my legs gave out. I just fell down, landed on all fours, and suddenly tears were involuntarily coming out of my eyes and I was gasping for breath. It was the strangest sensation, and I still don’t know what it was. I didn’t lose consciousness, so I can’t say that I fainted – I guess it was just a near-faint?

I yelled for Dave; I think it freaked him out to find me on the floor between the dining room and the kitchen. He got my glass of water for me and I crawled (literally, I was scared to stand up) back to the couch. For the rest of the day, though, I had to be really careful every time I stood up. I couldn’t seem to get rid of that shaky feeling in my legs. I thought I was supposed to be getting over that stuff now that I’m almost in my second trimester, but I guess “almost” doesn’t count.

Abruptly switching topics back to fun stuff: while I’ve been camping out with my butt glued to the couch, there have been movies too. Recaps!
* Shopgirl – A little disappointing, only because I don’t care for Jason Schwartzman at all and I really thought that Claire Danes could do better. But it was ok.

* The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada – This is one that Dave picked, but I watched it because I generally like Tommy Lee Jones. I really hated this movie, though. I liked the beginning because it started off as kind of a sad story. Then it turned into some weird gross-out/torture flick and I just couldn’t handle it. I covered my face for a pretty significant portion of the second half of the movie. Oh, and also? The ending sucked.

* Transamerica – Ok, technically we watched this over a week ago, but I’m including it here because I loved it. I now think that Felicity Huffman should’ve won the Oscar for Best Actress. Great movie.

* Eight Below – I coerced Dave into watching this with me last night. And yeah, I know, it’s a Disney movie. But oh, how I cried. I mean, the human actors, meh. I didn’t really give a flip about them or their lame little storyline. But the dogs! The pretty huskies and malamutes with the beautiful doggie faces! They broke my heart. I sobbed – a lot.

And as much as I hate to admit it, I have kind of a new respect for Paul Walker. He was so good with the dogs that it made me think that he must love animals in real life. Because honestly, he’s not a good actor by any stretch, so I just can’t imagine that he could’ve pulled it off if he wasn’t really a dog person.

starting to look that way

Posted on by

The latest on the siding is that there is no news. I called and complained yesterday morning, and they told the guy (Chuck) to stop working and leave. He did. Now we’re waiting for one of their head honcho guys to come out and look at the wall that we’re not happy about, so we can decide how to proceed from here. At least this company is listening to me and taking my complaint seriously, so I guess I can live with that.

In other news, something has happened this week and my stomach is suddenly very obvious. I don’t really understand that. I’ve heard women talk about how your belly “pops” at some point, but it’s kind of insane how it happened literally overnight.

Tuesday evening, I went to my prenatal yoga class, and I felt sort of self-conscious because I was the only one there in my first trimester, and the only one who wasn’t showing. (The teacher, btw, applauded my effort to start early. She said she has lots of women who come in during their 32nd week and are all, “Ok, I’m ready to start yoga now!” Better late than never, I guess?)

Wednesday morning, I woke up, and it was suddenly “oh hello there, tummy, where did you come from?” Dave wouldn’t stop poking at it because he seemed convinced that it was all just gas. (Nice.) But it’s not gas, it’s just… there. The weird thing is that my jeans still fit, because all of the tummy expansion seems to be above my belly button. I’ve had to give up belts, of course, and my tighter jeans don’t stand a chance. But my looser jeans still button just fine and don’t really pinch on me at all.

I have two supporting anecdotes to prove that this is not all in my head:
1) I was walking through the lobby at work, and there were two women sitting there. One of them looked at me, then turned back to her friend, and said, “Oh, do you remember so-and-so? Did you know that she’s pregnant now?” Apparently just the sight of me causes others to think of the subject of pregnancy.

2) Yesterday, the checkout girl at the grocery store asked me if I was pregnant. That’s the first time a total stranger has noticed. I wasn’t wearing a maternity shirt, just an extra-large t-shirt and jeans, so it occurred to me that it was a really stupid thing for her to ask. She isn’t one of the checkout people that I see all the time, so it’s not like she knows my “normal” body as a frame of reference. That could’ve potentially been very awkward. Lucky for her, I am indeed pregnant, so I wasn’t offended.

Oh, even weirder? I still haven’t gained any weight. I don’t know how that’s possible, because it certainly isn’t like the rest of me is shrinking at all. I guess things are just shifting around in there.

I’ll be eleven weeks pregnant tomorrow. I suppose I should start posting some belly shots so y’all can see the tummy for yourselves. I’ll try to do that this weekend.

vindication

Posted on by

Friday evening, a nurse from my doctor’s office called me about my bloodwork. I’m completely annoyed that it took two weeks for them to notify me of the results. I suppose that’s probably normal, but still, it’s irritating. Of course, I’m ten weeks pregnant, so everything irritates me right now. Last night, I woke up because I heard Dave sniffling (he’s having allergy problems) and I was all cranky and said, “Ok, you need to do something about that right now.” What a sweet, empathetic wife I am, no?

Apparently this particular nurse only handles the results of genetic screening, because the reason she called was to tell me that I do indeed carry the gene for cystic fibrosis. I have a cousin who died of CF a couple of years ago, so I wasn’t entirely surprised to find out that I’m a carrier for the disease. All it means is that Dave now has to go have the blood test done too. In order for our child to have CF, not only would we both have to carry the gene, we’d have to carry the same strain as well. (There are something like 300 identified strains of cystic fibrosis.) Dave doesn’t have a family history of CF at all, so the odds of our child having the disease are pretty slim.

So, I’m trying very hard not to waste any time or energy worrying about something that is such a remote possibility, although I must admit that the worst-case scenarios do tend to keep popping up in the back of my mind. (They always do.)

Since I had the nurse on the phone, I asked her about the results of the rest of my bloodwork. I know that every woman who has ever been pregnant (including my own mom) keeps telling me that it’s normal to feel this tired during the first trimester, but I’ve had all of these little internal alarms that were telling me that something is abnormal. I have to take so many supplements because of my gastric bypass surgery, and I know how easily those balances can be thrown off. Also, I’ve had an underactive thyroid all of my life, and I’ve taken medication for it since I was 9 years old. My medication has been pretty stable for the past couple of years, but if anything should throw it off kilter, I think pregnancy would do it.

This is how the conversation with the nurse went, after she gave me the news about having the CF gene:

Me: Ok, and I was sort of wondering about the rest of my bloodwork…

Her: (very chirpy and perky) Everything looks good! You’re HIV-negative, and your gonorrhea and chlamydia tests both came back negative too!
(All of her sentences ended in exclamation points. Too bad there isn’t a font that will let me dot my i’s with hearts, because it would be totally appropriate.)

Me: (what I thought) Duh? Christ, I should hope so.
(what I said) Um, I was thinking more about my vitamin and thyroid levels.

Her: Well, let’s see… Oh actually, it looks like you’re a little anemic! And your thyroid is off too! I’ll have to have the doctor review this on Monday and have her adjust your medication!

Finally!! I’m not crazy, there really is something wrong. It was actually a relief to hear that, because it made me feel vindicated that this hasn’t been all in my head this whole time. My internal alarm system isn’t completely whacked.

And for the record, a normal thyroid level would be .3 or .4. Mine is .06, so it’s way off.

So, I’ve doubled my iron supplement, and I’ve been eating a lot spinach and lean red meat for the extra iron. I won’t know what to do with my thyroid meds until I hear from the doctor, but I’m going to call them this afternoon if I don’t hear from them. I’m really looking forward to starting to feel semi-human again.

je suis tres fatiguee

Posted on by

I’ve been a bad blogger lately because I am so. damn. tired. All the time. This first trimester is kicking my ass. The nausea isn’t nearly as bad as the exhaustion. I mean, at least I can go a day (even two sometimes, if I’m lucky) without being sick. But the fatigue is constant. I’m really starting to wonder if there’s something else wrong, like maybe I’m not getting enough iron or B-12 or something. I do take supplements for all of that stuff, but this just doesn’t feel right. I wake up tired after sleeping for 9 or 10 hours. That can’t possibly be normal.

My doctor’s office took some blood when I was there a couple of weeks ago, but I have yet to hear anything as far as the results. I’ve contemplated calling them to find out if everything was ok with my bloodwork, but that would require me to get off my butt, look up the number for my doctor’s office, find the phone and call them. I know: I’m a bad pregnant lady, I don’t have my ob’s number memorized. But at least I know that it’s on a business card on our fridge. It’s just the effort of walking downstairs that feels a bit overwhelming.

Seriously? I am typing this entry with my laptop propped up on my knees while I’m lying in bed. Because sitting at my desk is just too draining.

Other than that, there isn’t too much going on. I suppose that’s logical, seeing as how it’s a bit challenging to plan a social life when you can’t keep your eyes open for any length of time.

Although, one of my friends from college is coming to town for some work thing, so Kris and I are meeting up with her for dinner tonight. Kris and I are going in separate cars too, because there’s a remote possibility that they might want to go out to do something after dinner, and there’s no way I’ll be up for that. Hell, the only way I’ll make it through dinner is if I get at least an hour-long nap in beforehand. But I am really looking forward to having dinner with the girls tonight, even if it’s only for a couple of hours before I have to go home and crawl back into my pajamas.