Aw, a baby!

Today I went down to visit some friends from the PhD program (Laura and Carl), who had a baby about a month ago. They named her Amelia Margaret (2 of our favorite girl names!). Laura had a very rough pregnancy - morning sickness for 5 months that resulted in hospitalization at least once, and puking 20+ times per day. Poor thing. Then Amelia cracked one of her ribs! I didn't even know that was POSSIBLE. It makes me even more thankful for my easy pregnancy!

She was so cute though... I can't wait till DomerBaby is in our arms!

Hormonal Rage

Today, I was

a) hungry
b) grouchy

I'm about ready to kill half of my co-irkers because they continuously jam the darn paper shredder. I know they all know how to empty it, but they just force more and more paper in, until it's impossible to clean out without making a mess.

A nasty-gram is going out via email first thing Monday morning.

That's right, I'm working on Labor Day. Probably Sunday, too.

PS. Tomorrow should be better - I'm getting a hair cut, visiting my friend who has a new baby, and maybe even hitting my favorite grocer. I'm looking forward to it.

Baby Signs

I'm so interested in using sign language when DomerBaby arrives. It came up on a message board today, and some of the girls who started around 4 months had the babies signing back at 6mo! How cool is that?

Apparently, teaching a baby to sign can also help language learning and increase IQ.

Here is a neat site that shows ASL signs for babies.

I'll have to look into it more, but if anyone has tips and tricks, please post a comment!

I'd also really like to expose DomerBaby to at least one other spoken language during the first year, but I haven't quite figured out how to do that on a regular basis yet. One thing at a time!

Pregnancy Headaches?

I've been getting headaches almost daily now for the last week. Not fun. They aren't debilitating, just annoying. I need to call Charlotte and see if there is something I can do to help myself with it. I don't like to take a lot of medicine, for obvious reasons. My guess is a bit of water, rest, and exercise would help. Stupid tax season.

In better news, we ordered 7 new books on pregnancy, birth, and child development! I can't wait till they start arriving!

The Baby Made Me Do It

Expensive kids

Today I was thinking about college for DomerBaby and his/her future sibling(s?). A couple of months back, I actually calculated the cost of attendance for two children, starting in 18 & 20 years, based on the current tuition price, and historical tuition rate increase.

According to my calculations, the total cost of 2 DomerBabies will be $895,354.

::Swoon::

Don't worry though, with a mere $50k down and $12k per year, we'll have it covered. If we can get an 8% return.

In other words... Start playing the lottery.

Tired Today

Not sure if it's because it's been so cloudy, or if DomerBaby is having a growth spurt, but I've been T-I-R-E-D. Luckily T.J.'s been very nice about picking up the slack. I think it bodes well for our ability to work together to get things done after the baby is here. Last night he made the bacon for BLT's, and today he ran to the grocery store and let me lay on the couch after lunch.

This afternoon he's going golfing, and I'm going to try and get up the gumption to bake him some cookies, pull out the sewing machine, and maybe clean up a bit around here. Call me Lazy-Susan Homemaker. hehe

Shopping Spree

I bit the bullet today, donned my modified pants (held together by a hair band) and headed all overy Atlanta in search of cheap maternity clothes.

First I went to a consignment store, which was ok - but didn't have much selection. I got a shirt there out of desperation. Next I hit the consignment store we tried last weekend when it was closed. This time it was open and I got a pair of jeans and 3 tops! Off to the mall, and I got 2 pair of pants, a dress, and 3 tops. Finally, I hit Old Navy where I got a sweater and a pair of regular jeans a couple sizes up - I figure I can wear them over the next month or two and after DomerBaby arrives.

I'm completely exhausted, and the wallet is a little lighter, though I got great deals. Everything but one item was less than $20, and one was $0.60! Whew!

12 week appointment!

We started the morning at the Ob/Gyn office at 7:30 for our "regular" appointment. We arrived at 7:25, and were back in the car at 7:45. Insurance dollars at work! They did weight, blood pressure, and she palpitated my belly to feel for the uterus since I declined the doppler. We left kind of surprised and unsatisfied... and glad that we were going to see Charlotte.

We hit up Chick-Fil-A for breakfast since we didn't need to be at Charlotte's until 9am, and then headed for appointment number 2.

We spent 2 HOURS with Charlotte. She went over nutrition, vitamins, my blood work from the other office that I brought her. We discussed the different options for child birth classes at length. She wanted to know a bunch of other stuff to make sure I had all the knowledge I needed to make good decisions at home with eating, exercising, heavy lifting, and even just getting up from a prone position.

She told me to call her anytime if I had a question (!). She also did weight, blood pressure, and palpitation of the uterus. It was fun to compare from the earlier versions. Charlotte has this cool faux pelvis so she was able to show us what the uterus was doing, so that was neat. I was also able to "check out" a book from her that I'm excited to read. It's time to get back to baby-learning!

High points from today:
- I've gained 2lbs since my last visit (7/30) with the doc's office per their scale
- My blood pressure is normal (108/60 or 120/68 depending on how worked up I am about childbirth classes!)
- I have a retroverted uterus. That just means it's tilting back instead of forward. Charlotte said it'll just sort of slingshot over at some point and go forward, and I'll just look *really* pregnant one day! Hehe, I can't wait!

I guess that means that the picture was just bloat! But at least it's from the baby!

I also told everyone at work today, so now I don't have to hold in my stomach when I walk the halls!

If we looked today...

This is what DomerBaby would look like! This is not DomerBaby, it's someone's baby from a message board I'm on. She just happens to be due exactly the same day!

Of course... we don't know if DomerBaby is a boy or a girl, but I'm pretty sure she's on Team Blue! Haha!

Tomorrow's the prenatal appointments, and I'm so excited that T.J. is planning to come, too! I didn't think he would, but he seems excited to see what goes on at the appointments, and I think he might want to get to know Charlotte better (very smart). I'll update the blog when I get back to work tomorrow with any interesting tidbits.

Baby, or Bloat?

Baby, or just bloat?

You decide!

Me... I take what I can get!

Prenatal appointment coming up!

Yey! I'm getting excited for my first appointment with Charlotte (the homebirth midwife). I'm meeting with the hospital midwife first on Friday for my "normal" 12w checkup, then heading to Charlotte's for my real appointment. I expect it to be much more fun and informative! And I'm hoping she'll teach me how to feel my fundus (the top of the uterus - you can feel it from the outside on your belly). I just can't tell if I'm doing it right.

We will be declining any ultrasound or doppler use until the 20w appointment, so we won't be seeing DomerBaby or hearing his/her heartbeat. I think that Charlotte should be able to hear it by 16w with the fetoscope, so we'll just try to be patient!

T.J. and I went for a jog last night, which was barely a crawl for him, but wore me out so much that I feel asleep on the couch after dinner for about 2 hours! I woke up to hear the NBC commentators complaining more about how unfair the gymnastic scoring is. ::eye roll:: Even though I love the Olympics, I'll be glad when it's over and we can start going to bed earlier again.

I'll be taking my weekly belly picture again tonight... I think I might have grown quite a bit this week. I've been having more trouble sucking in my belly. I'm planning to tell everyone at work either Friday after I get back from my appointment, or Monday. We'll see. It seems like an awkward conversation to have with your boss...

Why T.J. is great

I spend a lot of time ribbing poor T.J. on here, and tonight he really helped me with some baby decision making for my 12w appointment, so I thought I'd give him some positive press tonight.

1. He is supportive of my wishes for pregnancy and birth.
2. He listens to my endless chatter about DomerBaby
3. I get a back rub almost every night
4. He makes me ramen when I feel yucky
5. He helps me reason through difficult prenatal care choices - leading back to my original wishes.

He's going to be a great birth partner.

First baby knitting project!

Three of my girlfriends came over last night for our Stich-n-Bitch party. I made a delicious dinner for us, and then we got down to business. I started working on my first baby knitting project - a pair of booties - and finished the first one!

I really like how it turned out. My friend Sian helped me read the pattern, for which I'm forever grateful. I stink at pattern reading! Alysa was impressed at my gimpy one-handed knitting, and Cassie I think was just confused at why we all enjoyed knitting, as we complained about all the aches that come with our bad posture and needle holding while knitting!

Anyway, I still have to make the 2nd bootie, but I'm really happy with it, and it was so nice to start and finish a project in the same day. I'm thinking of making a matching hat and maybe even a sweater! Hopefully I'll finish before DomerBaby has grown out of them!

Other exciting news, my weight gain has trimmed down to a respectable 3.5lbs since conception! I might just make that "gain 0-5lbs" in the first trimester.

In sad news, tax season has officially begun, I worked my first weekend of the fall. Boooo. That means I didn't get to try out my sewing machine. Maybe next weekend!

Crafty Weekend

T.J. and I went to JoAnn's yesterday for more fabric and sewing gear - I'm all ready to make my first project on the sewing machine - diaper wipes! They should be pretty easy, just terry on one side and flannel on the other. I'm gonna try out the embroidery function on my machine too and make some designs. I'll post pictures when I've done something!

Today we went to a local knitting store, where I got this fabulous cashmere/wool/synthetic blend yarn, and I'm gonna try to make these baby pants (in a light blue color).

Tonight though I'm starting some baby booties - start small, right? I got some cute cream-colored yarn and green ribbon. I think they should turn out pretty well! If they do, I might do a sweater in the same yarn & ribbon. A few of my girlfriends are coming over I'm making Chicken Parmesan for dinner for before knitting. Of course, chicken totally disgusts me right now, so I will probably just have pasta!

T.J. just left for golfing, so don't worry, he won't be subjected to any more crafting overload!

Pregnancy Side Effects

I've been noticing more "weird" things going on lately, so I figured I'd post them since I'm always just saying "I feel great!"

1. The obvious - none of my pants fit anymore. I rubber band them all and put my nifty bella band over them. Ironically my belly pics still look pathetic.

2. Thunder thighs - also pants related, but who knew I'd "feel" pregnant in my thighs first?

3. Food aversions - I am getting picky! Anyone who knows me knows I'll eat just about anything. I can't stomach the thought of chicken unless it's deep fried. Depending on the day, a salad is revolting or the only thing I want. I eat fruit loops in the morning for breakfast now. We walked the aisles of the grocery store the other day and I was like "ooooh, RAMEN".

4. Skin - I don't want to jinx myself... but my skin *may* be clearing up a bit. Definitely #1 best side effect so far. Of course, it's still worse than the typical teen, but I take what I can get.

5. Fingernails/Hair - I think they are getting stronger! Woot!

6. Emotions - not too crazy, but I'm turning into a softie. And the olympic commentators make me nuts. But I doubt that's pregnancy related - they are just so dang annoying!

7. Nausea - It's there, especially in the morning, but it's so minimal. I'm so lucky in this regard!

8. Stuffy nose - weird, but true

9. Sciatic nerve pain - the worst part of pregnancy so far. I feel like an old lady at night!

Belly Pictures!

Well, it's not nearly as exciting as I'd hoped. The only weird thing seems to be the way my elbow photographs! Ha!

But here I am in all my glory...

Babywearing

Besides cloth diapering, my favorite baby-thing I've learned about is babywearing.

When you babywear, you use some sort of carrier/pouch/sling/wrap and put the baby on your front, back, or hip depending on the type of device, age of baby, and your/their preferences. There are TONS of different types available, but so far I'm most interested in pouches, slings, and wraps. The moby wrap in particular looks versatile and easy to use - and you can make one yourself REALLY easily!

Besides being cute and snuggly, there are lots of advantages to babywearing:

1. Babywearing is convenient - It keeps you "hands free" so you can get stuff done while meeting your baby's need to be held.

2. It makes for happier babies - Studies have shown that babies who are worn cry much less than other babies. I think that's enough right there to immediately sling your baby.

3. Wearing a baby promotes physical development - Babies are in tune with your heartbeat, breathing, and moving around. It helps develop their ability to control their own bodies!

4. Babywearing is good for adults - As baby gets bigger, you get stronger! It's much better exercise than pushing a stroller.

5. Babywearing is safe - it keeps your baby out of the hands of strangers, and decreases the likelyhood that a stranger will invade your baby's "Personal Space".

Boring Day

I can't think of anything to talk about today! If you need some baby-related things to check out...

*Look how big DomerBaby is getting on visible embryo
*Look how big I'm getting on pennhealth (I'm in my 11th week now)
*Vote on baby names on our baby name list or leave a comment with your favorite name (we'll take suggestions!)

ps. Do you know how to leave a comment? Just click on the little "comments" link at the bottom right of the post. You can then type in a comment, and select Name/URL. Just add your name so we know who wrote it and type in the word verification, and you are done!

I might post some "belly pictures" tomorrow - just for your amusement!

Lots of changes!

We had a great time up at ND this weekend - we told all our friends there about DomerBaby, and they were all very happy for us. I've never seen so many guys into babies as T.J.'s friends are!

Campus was undergoing some major changes - they finished one new dorm and are building another, the Law School is being expanded to more than double it's old size, and apparently they are tearing up North Quad, too. They even expanded the bookstore. We need to start going more than one time per year so we don't get confused by all the changes!

We got DomerBaby a cute ND hat (see left) and a 12mo t-shirt. Most of the cute stuff was gender-specific - Just another reason not to find out in advance! I'm saving tons of money. Haha.

Notre Dame isn't the only one with lots of changes! I'm noticing more and more things happening with my body, as well. Last night I got some wicked heart burn from a banana (?!?), more nerve pain, and this weekend the super-nose kicked in. Something smelled absolutely revolting at the office, but apparently no one else smelled it.

My pants (and even my shirts) are getting tighter. I may need to get a pair of maternity dress pants soon. I live in pajamas at home, and rubber bands on my jeans are the norm these days.

It's very exciting! I think I'll be showing for real in a few more weeks!

Off to Notre Dame!

We're on our way up to Notre Dame tomorrow! We're driving to Indianapolis and staying with Jim & Val tomorrow night, then heading to Notre Dame on Friday. Wedding on Saturday, of course! I'm really excited to see all of our friends - and tell them about DomerBaby!

I already told T.J. that we'll have to hit the bookstore to browse the baby items. Hehe. Serves him right for all the grief he's been giving me.

Do you think they have an interlocking ND cloth diaper???

First purchase!

I found a deal on some cloth diapers last night that I just couldn't pass up! I got 5 Kissaluv size 0 fitted diapers. So cute! I'm planning to use a combination of prefolds and fitteds with covers.

Now I'm going to have to get busy knitting some wool soakers and sewing some wipes!

Here's a picture of the diaper. You have to put a waterproof cover or soaker over it, and these size 0's have a cutout for the umbilical cord when the baby is new.

It's Official!

We have decided to go with Charlotte, the third homebirth midwife that we interviewed.

Charlotte moved from another state a few months ago, where she ran a birthing center that also did home births. Because of the ability to practice openly and have medical backup available in that state, she has had experience with twin births, breech births, and dealt with all sorts of medical emergencies. She is a Certified Professional Midwife, and seems to have a good moderate view on using medical technology and old-fashioned know-how to care for her patients. She has the means to do lots of the normal type prenatal tests, and I know that DomerBaby is in good hands between me, T.J., and Charlotte.

Like I said before, we'll continue to get care at the ob/gyn office until 20 weeks, so that we can get the anatomy ultrasound. So I'll have 3 more appointments with them (12, 16, and 20 weeks).

Feelings:

I woke up and felt kind of yucky today! I wonder if it's in my head though... after a few minutes I began to feel better. I've also been having some sciatic nerve pain. I really need to get back in the exercise swing of things, as that is supposed to help. I may also see a chiropractor that specializes in prenatal care. Other than that I feel peachy!

Weight gain: 5lbs (eek!).

I just have to tell you that T.J. was aghast at how much I weighed when I told him. I have straightened him out, and I'm sure he will have less comments on my weight in the future (if he knows what's good for him). Haha!

Reality Check

This weekend I flew to Reno for Jill's wedding. I stayed with my friend Dawn, her husband Igor, and two kids, Emmi (2.5) and Cade (7 mo). It was really fun to get to know her growing family... but wow, I'm so amazed at her stamina and patience! All I can say is that I'm glad you start with one newborn and get to "grow" with the baby. Two and a half years of interrupted sleep is just more than I can comprehend right now.

I flew back to Atlanta yesterday morning and slept almost the entire 4 hour flight. Then when I arrived home, I took a 2 hour nap. And I was still ready for bed before T.J. was last night.

Dawn, you are my hero, and your kids were beautiful and sweet. You're doing a great job.