Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Photobooth Fun: Showing Off Spencer

I didn't want to wait too long to post these pics I just uploaded. They are from Chuck and Carrie's wedding a few weeks back. I was 26 weeks along with the Spence Monster and I had a great time getting dressed up and goofing off with Todd. We had a photobooth at our wedding but didn't get in it too many times so we tried to take advantage and there are the "bump-centric" shots. I haven't gotten many full body pics of myself during my preggoness that I didn't take myself and almost NONE with the both of us. So enjoy us being our backwards selves (with zee bump!) in the photobooth!

*I'm leaning backwards so I look bigger than I am, but I love it*


Friday, May 27, 2011

Swimming Along: Getting a Gold Star From a Medical Professional

28 weeks down and 12 to go. My little head of cauliflower is growing every day!


My man is about 16 inches and 2.5 pounds. And at this point, his brain is so developed that it is now regulating his body temperature. Look at the brain on my boy! He's Harvard-bound for sure! And speaking of his brain, he now enters REM sleep so he might be dreaming. I hope his dreams aren't as bananas as mine. Besides dreaming, he's also coughing, sucking, and breathing in there. And speaking of breathing, his lungs have matured enough that if he was born today, he's have an excellent chance of survival. But I'd like to keep him cooking a while longer.

As for me, some of the things THEY say might be happening to me aren't...his movements aren't bugging me at night, my belly button hasn't popped, I don't have any stretch marks, and my feet and ankles aren't swollen. But some of the things THEY say might be happening ARE...my lower back is pretty sore (though last night I discovered Todd really does make a better body pillow and I woke up pain free) and he is no doubt nestled on my sciatic nerve so my right thigh goes numb. It's a bizarre sensation but if that's the worst that happens in the third trimester, I'll take it! Sure, I'm only a week in but I still feel pretty grrrrrreat!Pregnancy and I really mix. Who wudda thunk it?? Better odds for a second bun.


Yesterday I had an appointment  (and a CHILD in braces from the trade school did my BP and found the heartbeat...it was bizarre) and my doc gave me a big thumbs up all around! My blood pressure is pretty much the same as it was pre-pregnancy, Spencer's heartbeat was a nice 154 beats, I'm only measuring 1 week ahead (instead of 2) which she says is more than fine by her (so he's probably not breech), and my weight gain has been nice and steady. And since things are really "swimming along", she said I can come back in 4 weeks instead of 2! We'll start the every-two-weeks appointments in July.

We discussed whether or not I might want an epidural (DUH!), if Spencer will be circumcised (DUH!), and if we want to do cord-blood banking (which we decided today we will be doing). We also quickly went over what to do when I go into labor: I should wait to call until my contractions are 5 minutes apart for 1 hour. I should also call if I have any weird bleeding (for example, there might be some after an exam but there shouldn't be any 4 days after an exam). And if his movements slow down...of course they'll slow down as he runs out of room...I should do "kick counts" - eat and drink and then lay down and make sure he kicks at least 10 times in an hour. If he doesn't, repeat. If he STILL doesn't, come in for Fetal Non-Stress Test.

Applying mind-over-matter. I have to believe the next 12 weeks will continue to be hitch-free.

Monday, May 23, 2011

Stress Levels: A Note To The Unborn Vol. 6

Dear Spencer Monster:

You just let me know that you're awake (a little earlier than usual) by punching me square in the rib. I probably deserve that. I've been really stressed out recently and I know that's probably stressing you out. You don't need any extra stress. Being stuck in that small space while you're trying to grow is enough without taking on any of my garbage. I'm trying to de-stress and deflate, honest.

I'm just physically uncomfortable, which is not AT ALL your fault. It's just the nature of growing a human being in your guts. My back was already in bad shape and I had a few hits against me, like Chronic Fatigue Syndrome on top of sleeping issues. But I'm doing my very best to suck it up and power through.

I guess the emotional stuff is adding to the stress. I'm just so worried about being a good mom to you. You're the MOST important thing I've done in my life and I don't want to be responsible for screwing you up. And I'm worried about you while you're in there, cooking away. About now, you're able to feel pain, and that makes me feel HORRIBLE! I don't want you to feel any pain, EVER. While you're my internal tenant, I should be able to protect you the BEST! Ugh. Am I failing you already??

I shouldn't be venting to you. You're awesome, even when you do punch me in 8 different locations at once. How DO you DO it? Your cousin Matt (who decided he needs to be your Uncle Matt to have more influence in your life) just said it's time for me to pop you out already. Everyone is pumped for your arrival. You are totally loved by all...but no one loves you more than your mommy. Period. And if anyone tried to tell me differently, I'll find a way to punch them in the back of the belly button. I learned that move from someone cool.

Anyway, I just want you to know that I'm doing to best I can out here to do the best for you. I'm kind of learning as I go. Books and websites and other mothers can tell you a lot of things...and I appreciate all those things...but whatever happens for us is what's going to happen. I have a doctor's appointment on Thursday and I'm hoping the doc says you and I are doing A-OK!

Feel like having a banana? I'm thinking that you do.

LOVE YOU, MONSTER!

xoxo
Mommy

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Third Trimester: The Final Leg Of This Crazy Race.

 Official business: android or monster for the Spencer Dome? Both, right?


This is my 50th post at 1313 Mockingbird Lane, my 27th week of pregnancy, and the official kick-off of the 3rd trimester! It's hard to believe that I am 2/3 of the way done cooking this little turkey that I am insanely in love with and madly over-the-moon about. Even if he did just punch me in the back of the belly button. That's his new skill, hitting the target.

Friday afternoon, my guy was ROCKING OUT. Keep your eyes to the left:


Cuteness To Remember
On Friday night, Todd was giving my belly a good rub when Spencer gave him a swift kick (or punch). So Todd nudged back...and Spencer nudged back. It was like they were fist pounding or something. Todd was so funny and excited and wanted me to feel the hand...or foot...or elbow...whatever...but I let it be their little moment. I have all kinds of one-on-one bonding time with him, it's got to be a little harder for the dads. With Todd's work schedule, I'm worried that Spencer's newly-hearing ears with mistake Detective Elliot Stabler as his father. HA!

On Saturday, we went to a wedding and I was told that I'm cute pregnant : )


Moving on. At 27 weeks down and (lucky) 13 to go, Spencer is STILL the size of a tasty eggplant. I'm guessing they're tasty, even though I've never had one. Everything revolving this little dude is delicious, so says his mother. He's no longer measured crown-to-rump. At our appointment next week, it'll be all head-to-toe! And in that big head, is a big and developing brain. Eyes are opening, ears are hearing, mouth may be jammed full of fingers, and taste buds are tasting. Last night we had some ice-cream and he had a strong reaction to it! Let's hope those were squirms of approval!

The shower invitations are on their way and THEY HAVE ROBOTS ON THEM.

And what else is awesome? The crib came AND Todd surprised me with a picture this morning of it all assembled and waiting for it's tenant. The changing table gets put together tomorrow. Sure, it's a table that will eventually be filled with baby bodily fluids, but I love all things Spencer-related so...I'm psyched! *It's black though it appears brown*


And I'm psyched that a lot is going on in the next 13 weeks that will hopefully make time fly. Take a sneak peek at my ever-growing (no, not belly - I'm still on the small side as websites and books say I should have gained around 16-20 lbs by now, but I'm still hovering around 10) calendar of events:

REMAINDER OF MAY
- next doc appointment
- Memorial Day

JUNE
- 2 doctor's appointments
- a family wedding and New Bomb Turks
- several birthday celebrations
- Father's Day cookout
- Lady Lead Foot's official debut show
- registering for delivery (still sounds so insane)
- Baby Shower

JULY
- 2 doctor's appointments
- 4th of July fun
- kids pool party
- packing the hospital bag
- Los Straitjackets (maybe my water will break there!!!)

AUGUST
- weekly doctor's appointments
- DOING THE SPLITS ON A CRATE OF DYNAMITE!

Yeah...it'll be here in NO TIME! I'm going to rule you, 3rd trimester!!!

Monday, May 16, 2011

Snack Size: Experiencing Weird Symptoms In Small Doses.

And now for your viewing pleasure, 26 weeks...still an eggplant.




Nice flowery drawers, grandma. What can I say? They're comfy and comfy is what I need since Spencer seems to be pushing buttons for weird symptoms these days.

ON THE MENU

 A. My back has always been a problem (since I partially slipped a disc years ago and followed that up with a compression fraction from falling down the stairs). Add a one pound eggplant to that pressure and, well, nights have been unpleasant.

B. I can no longer regulate my body temperature. HOT is my only setting.


C. I'm guessing Spence Baby is positioned on a nerve because for a few days, my right thigh was asleep. Now it's my right thigh, forearm, and there's a dull and annoying tingle on the right side of my torso. Not painful but highly annoying.


D. A very mild heartburn seems to be present in the morning. But we were told at week 18 that the baby already had hair and rumor is babies with lots of hair cause heartburn. Tums are on my "CAN HAS" list. I'll deal.


E. Bloody noses have returned but they aren't super-soakers like before.


F. Round Ligament Pains have returned but like in the beginning, it's when I make a quick movement, when I sneeze, when I'm positioned one way for too long. They're no big deal but of course I totally FREAK because I feel like I'm ripping my guts to shreds and somehow hurting him. He gets a nice massage after I feel one of those twinges.


G. I keep having incredibly vivid dreams and they BUG ME!


H. I'm back to getting up at least once, if not twice, to empty my tank during the night. Like with the back problems, I've always had sleeping problems. So these little night time annoyances are...annoying.


I. Leg cramps a.k.a. CHARLIE HORSES! Pre-pregnancy, I told NOT handle nor tolerate Charlie Horses and they made me into a HUGE baby. I would crumble to the ground. Somehow, during my preggoness, I’ve figured out how to stop them as soon as they appear. Small victory.


* Side note: how unfair is it that clumsiness is a side effect of pregnancy??? I’ve been burdened with being a walking disaster my entire life. Does it really have to intensify while I’m responsible for protecting a little person??? Grrrrrrr.


At least I can poop. That's a small yet powerful blessing! And sure, there are a lot of things on my list but I'm not bitching (YOU'RE NOT??), just making note. All of these things affect me in small ways. They come and they're gone. I just want to have a list of things to use during guilt-trips when he's older.


Enough about me. Let's blather about him.


26 WEEKS: The nerves is his ears are way more developed so he can hear both me and Todd, which is good because I'm been chatting to him nightly and I don't want him to miss out on any of my gems. He's still practicing breathing in the amniotic fluid and he's piling on the fat so he's more pinchable and less...Skeletor. Allegedly he's more than a pound (maybe even close to 2) and over a foot long. And his testicles are making their descent. That's my little man!


As for me...I'm still supposed to be sleeping and eating, which I am, but watching "Pregnant In Heels"  (Rosie Pope is my new female celeb-crush) has me anxious to sign up for the free childbirth related classes offered by our hospital. The better prepared you are, the easier it'll be. They're free so WHY NOT? I know blood pressure can become an issue at this time which freaks me out because I've had blood pressure issues, on the low end. Hopefully that was a fluke.


And there you have it. The world according to me and Spencer!

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Baby Blather: I Do It On My Other Blog, Why Not Here?

1. 100 days until my due date as of today!!!

2. We are FINALLY ordering a crib today after weeks or decisions and debates and gift card nonsense. You're really making me hate you, Babies R Us. You AND your cutsie, backwards "R". Regardless, we'll have a place to put Spencer when we bring him home besides a cardboard box. Score one for the parents!

3. Cupcake flavors for the Spencer shower have been selected: vanilla, strawberry, hot cocoa, and key lime pie. Little Jen is making & decorating them and I will be inhaling them with gusto.

4. If I didn't know I was pregnant before, I do now. The bump my still be small but it's really screwing stuff up left and right where my back is concerned. The last 24 hours have been some of the most uncomfortable of my pregnancy so I'm rocking the support band thing Todd got for me, but it might be too late. I tossed, turned, and whimpered all night long. Rats.

5. We saw an awesome painting in a Sci-Fi themed nursery online and I'm going to do everything in my power to get one like it. I might need to ask my artistic friends to rally. Who is going to help us recreate (something like) this??


And I guess that's all my blather for now!

Monday, May 9, 2011

Good Times: A Successful 1st (Pre-) Mother's Day Goes In The Books.

First off, let me start by saying Happy Mother's Day to all of the mothers and moms-to-be, like me, out there. Mothers Day is a nice opportunity to tell the woman who raised you how much you appreciate all of her hard work, effort, love, and all that emotional jazz. Stuff that you couldn't have POSSIBLY said when you were ages 13 - 21 and thought you knew everything about everything and could take care of yourself. I spent a few hours with my mom yesterday and can only hope I'm a fraction as a good of a mother as she's been. I know exactly how lucky I am and hope I can make Spencer feel that way.

Speaking of Spencer, I dreamed of him again last night. It was awesome.

How did I spend my first Mother's Day (OK, he's not here YET but he's coming...that's inevitable...and unless I'm a pod person, I'm his mother and I wanted to celebrate that fact)? It was a great day all around and was kicked off with flowers and breakfast in bed from the man who made me a mother. And before you ask, those are flowers in the glass (that he cut off a tree with a knife while we were walking in Gordon Square) and not popcorn as it may appear.



He went with the hot pink since those were the same colors we had at our wedding. I thought that was pretty cute. Once the daisies cease to exist, I'm going to plant something in the bucket. Maybe a colony of Cacti! Regardless, I got the warm-n-fuzzies from Todd's efforts...and from all the social networking and text messages I got from friends recognizing me as a mom, which is still so bananas! We popped in to see Todd's mother and then popped in to see my mother (and were well fed!). She bought Spencer a little outfit to cover both Mother's and Father's Day, so cute.


We had planned to do something together, just the two of us, once all of our visiting was done. But when all of our visiting was DONE, we were in chill mode. This meant ice-cream, American Dad and a nap on the couch with all of the windows in the house open. The day wrapped up with cereal in bed (again), snuggling, and the Sunday night cartoon line-up. Oh Bob's Burgers, I hope you never get cancelled. Maybe it doesn't sound as fancy as a walk in the park or a trip to the zoo (both possibilities on our agenda) but it was exactly what I wanted.

A great day to celebrate that in approximately 101 days, Spencer will be here, adding to our family. I don't really need a special day to remind me I'm a mom. He reminds me every day with his flips and squirms, punches and kicks, the back pain, the cereal cravings, and so on. Yesterday he was a mellow dude (more calm and quiet than usual...maybe that was my gift) but he showed off at the end of night in bed when Todd was rubbing my ever-growing bump. With Dr. Nightmare, Todd, and the Spencer-bump, everything I loved was in that bed. A GREAT Mother's Day, indeed.

And for posterity, this is what I looked like (ignore the spots on the mirror):



Thursday, May 5, 2011

Just Like Heaven: How I Fell in Love With a $50 Pillow.

15 weeks to go. 105 days until my due date. BOOYAH!

As of today, I have been pregnant for 6 months and am coming into my last few weeks of the 2nd (and fan-effing-tastic) trimester. Spence Baby is a little over a pound and a half, somewhere between 9 inches and a foot tall, and awesome as ever. Nothing much has changed about me in the last week besides the return of mild heartburn, some dull back pain and restless nights. Still no signs of stretchmarks, belly button is where it belongs, and I'm not rocking that creepy black line or belly hair. Thank God for small (and let's admit it, VAIN) favors...like my thick, shiny hair!
I have heard that I'm starting to walk like a pregnant person...but a pregnant person that walks really fast. I don't know why I feel the need to push it...my heart and lungs are working 50% harder because of my increased blood volume so I should probably chillax. I guess I just want to be super awesome until I can't be super awesome anymore!

You know what else is awesome. MY BODY PILLOW! I've been bugging Todd for one for over a month and he finally broke down this week and hooked me up (he didn't want to be replaced by a pillow), along with a belly band, which I assume will be needed soon. I sometimes get tangled up in the pillow which can be terrifying but overall, it's helped my neck, my back, and my little guy be more comfortable during the night...and even during evening TV watching. My work chair doesn't exactly offer maximum comfort, so yeah, body pillow = awesome.

And this little outfit from Aunt Phoebe is awesome, too.


I said he'll be my little jailbird and Todd said, "CONVICT!". Of course, we love it. It's sized out to be perfect for colder weather (I picture it with a denim jacket) and has a little pocket on the butt...which is for his wallet according to Phoebe, and his flask according to me. She's sticking with a black-n-gray motif since that's all she wears and she doesn't want them to clash when they hang out together. Smart thinking, Aunt Phoebe.

I painted the nursery last weekend but haven't snapped a pic. Drat.

Let's add a big DRAT to the fact that we picked out a crib (not an easy feat), paid for it, and then got an e-mail saying it's out of stock. WTF! Sleeping in a dresser drawer like baby Carrie from Little House On the Prairie is becoming more of a reality for us. It really transformed smile to frown. I want his crib, dammit! I want that space to transform from hodge-podge guest room to the SPENCER DOME! I guess we'll just have to go back to the drawing board and pick something else. Blast.

And by the way, in the development department, his skin is pinking up due to forming capillaries, his lungs are in practice-mode, and his formerly-closed nostrils are opening up. He's still practicing his grasping and holding and has been toying with his sense of touch...touching anything he can get his hands and feet on! He's piling on some baby fat and moving right along. I can't wait to see the cute face I keep dreaming about.

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there. So psyched to finally be one of you!