Orange You Grape

Baby’s energy is surging, thanks to the formation of white fat deposits beneath the skin. (Have those kicks and jabs to the ribs tipped you off yet?) Baby is also settling into sleep and waking cycles, though — as you’ve also probably noticed — they don’t necessarily coincide with your own. Also this month, all five senses are finally functional, and the brain and nervous system are going through major developments.

Week 30! yikes, I can’t believe in 8 more weeks, husib will be considered mostly full term. J and I are still struggling to come to grips with impending parenthood. We have decided on a stroller, car seat, crib, rocker/glider, and a few other items which makes me feel loads better. I also bought a boppy the other day since I heard such good reviews of the product. I’m excited to see how it will all work out. J and I have also started car shopping, something that I  hate, but I think we are more focussed and committed than we were while buying the Element. I have my heart set on another Subaru so I’m hoping that works out. Husib is a kicking junkie and squirms and wiggles all the time. Some kicks are not very fun but the wiggles sometimes feel like a massage. I’ve also had a some Braxton Hicks contractions which scare me and send J into panic mode but my doctor says everything looks good so far. So onwards then-

How far along? 30 weeks
Total weight gain/loss: I think +10-15lbs, Lets not talk about it. K
Maternity clothes?Love some of my maternity clothes, a few that I bought over the summer are not going to work out though as fall sets in, so I’m going to have buy more pants. I’m still sticking to mostly non maternity shirts.
Stretch marks? Belly is stretch free as of now but lets not venture into boobs or thigh region
Sleep: Terrible, the belly is in the way, I have to get up to pee and lying on my sides hurts my pelvis sometimes. Also anxiety is feeding my insomnia.

Best moment this week: Realizing that I’ll have baby in 2.5 mos.

Movement: All. the . time
Food cravings: Meat aversion is back. Grapes, cereal and pasta
Gender:  Boy
Labor Signs: Some Braxton Hicks but I guess they are not really labor signs
Pregnancy Symptoms: Insomnia, a giant belly , starting to swell feet
Belly Button in or out? Its flat
What I miss: Not being pregnant
What I am looking forward to: Having a baby, followed by Not being pregnant. This was fun y’all, I’m ready to move on now. Thanks
Weekly Wisdom: From my doctor, ways to avoid Braxton Hicks is to stay hydrated and have an empty bladder. That is pretty much impossible, given the rate I’ve been peeing
Milestones: I guess its Tri 3 officially

Note to self- Goldgirl, pregnancy is not for you , it makes you whiny, bitchy, weepy and other negative ending in y words. You don’t feel like yourself and you feel intense amounts of guilt b/c you can’t reconcile your negativity with the love you feel for your child. So do the the world and yourself a favor and stop reproducing after this.

Goldgirl to Self- Check! I’m on it.

I’m done whining now.

Last Thursday J and I took the plunge straight out of denial into the arms of panic. We had our orientation slash tour of the Labor and Delivery section of Duke where I hope to give birth and it freaking scared the s*** out of us. We arrived at Duke around 6 and went into this auditorium/classroom where the numbers for Labor Triage and the Duke Main line were written in giant letters. The presenter was a Labor nurse and she told lots of stories and gave us lots of information about the different steps for checking into Labor. Lesson learned go through the emergency room when we head in for delivery and get our car valet parked. Also I need to pack my hospital bag before week 36, so thank god, I have a few more weeks! WE also learned when we should anticipate going in vs just calling our doctor and I still really don’t get it. I think I’m going to wing that one.

We also got to see the actual labor rooms, which from what the industry standards say are really nice with a jacuzzi tub etc but looked scary to me all the same and the post partum room looked like any old hospital room but just had a bassinet in it.  We also walked by a new mama during our tour who was walking the halls with her twins and I could not make eye contact because then it would be real. See, not making eye contact with babies means I’m not having one. Most of the other soon to be parents in our group were right around where I was but they all took copious notes as opposed to J and I who only jotted down the phone numbers. Now I’m worried that we are slackers and are not focussed enough about this.

When the whole ordeal was over J and I walked to the parking lot with the deer in headlights look on our face until we reached the car and started giggling hysterically because the entire situation was so unreal. Yeah, we are ready to be parents, can’t you tell?  This week we have “how to pick a daycare” class on Friday, I’ m sure we will under perform as usual.

Publicity shots of Duke L&D is here:

I guess I don’t really need to do a blog post about classes I’m taking for the baby experience, but since I’m tracking the pregnancy here, it might be nice to have it written down so that I can look back and remember someday:

We’ve got

Picking Day care

Hospital/L&D tours

Pointers from a Pediatrician

Childbirth and Labor ( series)

Breastfeeding

Infant care

and J wants to take Infant CPR but I don’t know if it’s really necessary. My friend told me we have to watch *the* video in childbirth class, and I don’t want to to watch. They can’t make me watch can they? I’ll just cover my eyes, and plug my ears, kind of like horror movies.

whatver they call it…Husib is big and purple and oh so kicky. Just like that dreaded dinosaur- Barney

Let your spouse put an ear to your belly — he might be able to pick up baby’s heartbeat (no stethoscope required). Inside the womb, the formation of tiny capillaries is giving baby a healthy pink glow. Baby’s also soaking up your antibodies, getting the immune system ready for life outside the womb. Eyes are forming, and baby will soon perfect the blink — perfect for batting those freshly grown lashes.

So I’ve been a bit of a workaholic lately, hence no posts. Pregnancy is going well for the most part, except the husib’s kicks get more and more intense and sometimes not very pleasant. Its like he finds a vital organ I would like to keep and pummels it out. I like the wiggles though they are like little tickles.  I’ve actually been so work obsessed that I’ve not had too much time to think of the baby the past few weeks, but I did manage to do some research on strollers Travel systems and find few cheap, fun modern ones. Also signed up for childbirth and a myriad of other classes, yaaay!

How far along? 27 weeks
Total weight gain/loss: I gave up and have stopped weighing myself. Sanity is much restored
Maternity clothes? Maternity pants are awesome, except I feel like they keep slipping down. I ‘m still not a fan of the super long tops, but it does hide the belly bands of the pants
Stretch marks? I think I have a new one and I’m still scared of VVs
Sleep: Sketchy, insomnia is here to stay people. I just make do with what I can

Best moment this week: Finally having a general idea of what baby gear I need to get. Also my work from home times start on monday.

Movement: All. the . time
Food cravings: Meat aversion is back. Fruit, pasta, rice
Gender:  Boy
Labor Signs: Too early
Pregnancy Symptoms: Leg cramps, That ligament pain thingy, weepiness
Belly Button in or out? Its definitely flattening
What I miss: having non pregnancy related thoughts. I love my baby, I really do, but I’d like a little break please.
What I am looking forward to: Getting to third tri, thinking more and more about having a baby in my arms and having at least a few moments where I don’t freak out.
Weekly Wisdom: Daycare websites are depressing. Don’t look at them if you don’t have to.
Milestones: End of the second trimester.

Watch what you say — baby is now able to hear outside noise from down in the womb. Studies show that baby finds gentle music and your own voice most soothing. Nipples are starting to sprout, and that little face is fully formed. And, baby’s starting to settle into sleep cycles, snoozing about 12 to 14 hours a day. It shouldn’t be hard to figure out when — just pay attention to those kicks as they start and stop.

All my anxiety about not feeling the kiddo was for nothing, I now feel him all the time, and he is a kicker, we even had our first fight, I won cuz I’m bigger, but we’ll see how much longer that lasts. Those kicks are pretty hard sometimes and although they don’t exactly hurt some are quite uncomfortable. Our first fight went like this:

1:30 Am at night. I’m sound asleep

Husib: Kick kick kick at the sides of my belly touching the bed

me: Ignore, still sleeping

Husib- kick kick kick even harder

me: finally awake, and grumpy, so I shift a tiny little bit

Husib: kick kick kick

Me: I pull the mom card and decide I’m going to sleep in that position and he has to just wiggle his way to the other side to get comfy

Score

me-1 /husib- 0. But I think we’ll be having a re match soon. I think he has all sorts of opinions now about how I sleep and what I eat…he is gonna be stubborn. Also, just to mess with him, if I press on one side of my tummy, he kicks against it instead of retreating ( I read somewhere fetus’s are supposed to retreat if you poke the belly, but I dont’ really remember). Anyway, I find him very funny these days and he never lets me forget that he is there, no more pregnancy denial for me. Other than that, I feel like a fat whale, but thats about it.

How far along? 23 weeks
Total weight gain/loss: I checked this morning and its 5lbs since two weeks ago, I’m uber depressed to say the least
Maternity clothes? gave in to the maternity Jeans this morning. It is very comfortable,so I’m glad I gave up my stubborn pride, but feel kinda fat now.
Stretch marks? More worried about VV (Varicose Veins) at the moment. However, doesn’t vv sound cute? makes it less scary.
Sleep: I’ve insomnia lately, not sure how much is pregnancy related or life related.

Best moment this week: being settled in our new place, kicks kicks and more kicks

Movement: All. the . time
Food cravings: Chocolate Donuts, cucumber sandwiches, and I can eat chicken again.yaaaay
Gender:  Boy
Labor Signs: Too early
Pregnancy Symptoms: Everything, this question just depresses me now 😦 will answer next week
Belly Button in or out? Its definitely flattening
What I miss: tequila shots
What I am looking forward to: My parents visiting, finally getting the new place all the way set up.
Weekly Wisdom: Don’t fight the maternity wear, it just wants to be your friend and make you feel comfy.
Milestones: Nothing too big this weekend, I guess surviving pregnancy for 23 weeks? Ha ha…also I think unless life throws me  a real curveball, this one is it for me.

A few things over the last few weeks have really confirmed the fact that I’m pregnant. People no longer treat me as a normal human being, now its not necessarily a bad thing, but its a very weird thing. Also I feel like I ‘m experiencing some moments now that has never happened to me before and probably will never happen once the husib is out.

1) Wearing an all maternity outfit to a kegger. It was beyond weird, Maternity skirt- check, maternity top- check, pregnant belly sticking out- check. But I had a plastic beer cup too, full of coke so I looked like a pregnant chick drinking beer.

2) It was said to me  “You are funnier since you quit drinking”  I’m going to take that as a compliment but now I’m paranoid about my sense of humor.

3) Strangers, Aquaintances feel completely comfortable discussing my body, my stomach and my eating habits and nobody but me finds it weird. I mean, I’m sure when they are pregnant they can eat all they want but do they need to tell me in excruciating detail why i need to drink coke and not diet coke and not worry about gaining weight. Yeah, lets see you not not worry about the giant belly thats suddenly attached to your once nicely curved torse.

4) I’m pregnant, yes there is a child inside me but I’m not that said child. There is no reason for the nurse practictions to refer to it as my tum-tum multiple times.

5) Waking up in the middle of the middle of the night, absolutely starving.

6) Where did the hordes of caffeine police suddenly come from, my mom and my once super laid back husband have now made it their daily mission to find out how much caffeine I’ve had. My mom, I don’t care as much, she has always been a bit obsessive, but J has been giving me the stink eye when I get an iced coffee. But I’m not scared, I give him a pregnant stink eye right back and call him the pregnancy police and go back to enjoying my delicious caffeinated beverage.  As my coworker says, Italian women do not give up their espresso, Japanese women do not give up their sushi and my European friends are shocked that I will not be drinking throughout the entire pregnancy.

I’m sure there’ll be more of these so I might have to do a part II