Sorry... no updates today... I'm working hard here!
Really though, work all of a sudden came in, like it always does, so now we're cranking out tax returns in overdrive. Posts may become sparse for a couple weeks, but I'll check in semi-regularly as interesting baby stuff comes up.
Today I put some of the "exercises" from one of my books into practice. There are 4 different exercises suggested, and apparently the info is widely known, since I found them all on this webpage.
I did tailor sitting for about an hour or so - my book says to do it "lots" and that I should not sit on the couch at all, but apparently the website is much easier on pregnant ladies! I don't know that it's really doing much, but it's good for posture, and my back KILLED while I was doing it, so it must have been working muscles, right?
Then I had T.J. rub my back - he needs to build his massaging muscles for labor. Hehe.
Maybe the baby really does like Thai food! I may have felt DomerBaby this morning! I don't know for sure though. Everyone keeps talking about butterflies, but it was more like an elbow!
I will keep you updated. Since it was morning, I'm not convinced that it wasn't my stomach doing weird stuff for food.
We hit 17 weeks today... time seems to be flying. I've been feeling great. The tiredness seems to have lifted, I haven't fallen asleep on the couch at all this week! I'm sure T.J. is very happy about that one. I'm difficult to wake up off the couch (I take after my papa).
I've been hard at work on another knitting project, I hope it turns out! I can't wait to show everyone - but it might be a while yet. It's a much larger project than I'm used to!
Not really baby related, but T.J. and I are headed to a fancy schmancy restaurant for dinner tonight at Bluepointe Restaurant. It's kind of an Asian fusion place... I'm looking forward to some Thai food. Yum! I think the baby likes Thai food already.
I *finally* have a bunch of my tax work in, but I'm so... well, distracted. I will start doing something, and then think of something else and work on that, then go check my email, etc... and then of course I get hungry, so I need to have a snack.
Must.Do.Work.
I'm trying to decide if I'm just lazy, or if I can blame it on the baby. Hehe! Poor DomerBaby, I blame all of my less desirable traits on you!
Why won't my baby give me a good kick in the gut? S/he is such a tease.
I don't think it'll be long now... I can feel DomerBaby hanging out on the right side of my belly in the mornings!
I'm going to post a new belly picture tonight... I think I've grown quite a bit from the last one I posted.
So, I've been attempting to volunteer at a local hospital for several months now. I began the process before we even got pregnant. They finally have an opening, but they require you to get a tuberculosis test done before starting there. The test they do is called a PPD - basically it injects proteins from a dead TB virus into your arm, and if you have a reaction, it means you have TB in your system or have had an immunization against it. I assume at that point you would be disqualified from working in the hospital without further testing (a chest x-ray).
I am not very comfortable with the testing procedure, so I asked them if I could do an alternate test called a QuantiFeron that does not include injecting me with this stuff. It's listed on the CDC website, and in my opinion is a much better option since I'm pregnant.
The nurse I spoke to said that "oh, it's not TB that gets injected, it's protein" - yeah, proteins from TB. And then said that they would not accept any other test. :( I might call tomorrow and ask to speak with whomever it is who approves applications. This is so dumb!
I really want to do this volunteering, but I can't do it at the expense of a healthy pregnancy. For the record, I don't think it'd hurt really, but the test has not been researched on pregnant women (or animals) for safety. Many sources say that a pregnant woman should not take the test unless necessary.
Up until now I haven't really had any "cravings"... and I hesitated to call this a craving either, but T.J. went to the store 3 times this weekend to buy me more fresh-cut fruit, and I spent over $30 on fresh fruit at the grocery store yesterday, so perhaps it really is "my first craving".
I'm pleased it's such a healthy one!
Of course... I have been hitting the potato chips hard, too...
I've been feeling great physically and mentally. I finally hit the 10lb mark on the scale this morning. It doesn't feel too bad though... if I average 1lb per week from here on out, I'll gain a total of 34. The general recommendation is 25-35 pounds, so I'll just eek in there.
It is a sad day; the day I cleaned out the closet of clothes that no longer fit.
T.J.'s side (looked like mine before):
My side:
T.J.'s side:
My side:
T.J.'s side:
My side:
Goodbye clothes, I hope to see you again in 9 months or so.
I didn't have a plan (or pattern) when I went to knitting group, so I just made a larger version of the hat I made yesterday. I think it'll fit somewhere around 2-3mo.
Yes, I'm totally making that up - I have no idea!
Fall is HERE! It's going to be 75 all weekend long. Yey!!!
T.J. is going golfing tomorrow afternoon, and I'm going to my knitting group and then out to dinner with a girlfriend. It should be fun.
I haven't decided what to knit yet... I may make a baby hat to go with my booties.
Oh, I'm also planning to go over to the sewing store to get bobbins. Finally!
This morning, T.J. and I went to our 16 week appointments. First, we saw the hospital midwife, which was actually quite enjoyable this time! She sat and talked with us for quite a bit about childbirth classes and her thoughts on them. We left feeling better about those appointments than usual.
Next we rushed over to Charlotte's (because we'd spent so much more time than anticipated with Kay!) for our home birth appointment. There we did all the same stuff - urine test, blood pressure, and fundus check. She confirmed my guess that the baby is hanging out on the right side of the uterus (it's extra hard there) and all of my urine results came back normal. She tried to hear the heartbeat with the fetoscope, but it's really much too early, so no luck! And, despite my 10lb total gain, I only gained 1lb from my last appointment by her scale ::shrug:: Maybe my maternity pants weigh less?
I really enjoy going to my prenatal appointments, because it's the only time that I get to talk to someone face to face who is really invested in our pregnancy and who knows more about it than I do.
Most exciting news... we scheduled our 20 week ultrasound! October 16!
10 lbs! Well, actually 9 lbs - I thought I'd be up to 10 by today.
40% (12) of you guessed correctly - smart cookies reading my blog
57% (17) of you were kind, and guessed lower!
3% (1) of you are very naughty, though I should lay off the chick-fil-a. :)
Here is my weight gain chart over the course of our pregnancy:
My coworker said to me yesterday "Wow, you make pregnancy look easy!"
It made me feel good that I'm not appearing to be a crazy pregnant lady.
By Popular Demand: A list of my favorite fertility/pregnancy/baby books (and some I didn't care for):
Fertility:
"Taking Charge of Your Fertility" - this is the bible of women's reproductive health. It should be required reading for all teenagers. I highly recommend this as a first resource for anyone wanting to know more about women's health, whether you are trying to avoid (TTA) or trying to conceive (TTC).
"Fertility, Cycles, and Nutrition" - this book has some interesting information regarding vitamins and supplements for both getting pregnant and when you are pregnant. It was very interesting, and an easy read. Definitely a good reference tool.
"The Fertility Diet" - I really liked this book, it had some interesting observations regarding diet and fertility, though I think it's easy to take these recommendations to extreme. It's just another way of looking at the way our food is processed now, and how that is affecting more than our weight. If you have trouble with your cycles, or are interested in how food affects health, this is a neat book.
"Exercising Through Your Pregnancy" - I absolutely adored this book. It debunks many myths about exercising while pregnant by using actual research regarding the physiological changes of pregnancy and how that affects your workout, and vise-versa. This is actually a good read for PRE-pregnancy, as it's important to be in shape before pregnancy to see the benefits of it in your labor and post partum recovery.
Pregnancy:
"Obstetric Myths vs. Research Realities" - This is the book that started it all, for me. It is a bit medical/research based (which I loved) and it goes through actual peer-reviewed scientific research regarding common medical procedures performed on pregnant women and fetus', and the consequences. If I could only read one book on pregnancy and birth, this would be it. However, if you don't like "tough" reading, the author (Henci Goer) also wrote a second book that has essentially the same info in a less scientific format that is much easier reading:
"The Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth" - If you don't like scientific writing, try this instead of the book above - same author, same info, easier read.
"Birth: The Surprising History of How We're Born" - This is exactly what the title suggests... a history book. It's fascinating, but sometimes gory. I finally had to just skip a section after they described in detail how they removed a fetus that was stuck in the birth canal. Overall it's a fantastic book that I highly recommend. I just finished it, but it sort of goes along w/ the Goer books in that is shows how many procedures and drugs have been basically "experimented" on women over the last few centuries, and why we should be weary of "safe" procedures that are used today that have not been adequately tested.
"Ina May's Guide to Childbirth" - this is a really cool book. Ina May Gaskin is an uber-famous midwife who left California in the 60's or 70's and settled in Tennessee. She founded "The Farm", a community where families could come and have a "home birth" away from home. She kept great records of the births and their techniques, allowing for some of the information that is known about the safety of home birth today. Gaskin even has an obstetric maneuver named after her that (gasp) DOCTORS use today. ;) There is info in the book about the labor process, as well as birth stories. It's a good read.
"Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way" - Read this book before investing in an expensive and time consuming Bradley birthing class. It's an interesting book, and has some good information in it, but it'll basically give you an idea of whether Bradley is for you. (I don't think it's for me - the focus on Bradley is getting a low-intervention birth at a hospital while still managing the pain of labor. I don't want to spend 16 weeks of classes devoting my time to learning how to avoid unnecessary interventions I will not have to worry about).
"The Birth Book" - This is a book by Dr. Sears (famed pediatrician). It was written in the 1970's and is very personalized, basically a story of his own family with the normal pregnancy info in between. It's not a must read, but if you want some light easy reading it's not bad. His wife had home and hospital births, so it does have a compare/contrast in that regard.
"Gentle Birth Choices" - sort of a watered down version of "The Thinking Woman's Guide"... I haven't made it all the way through this book. I've been distracted by some others lately. If you are trying to limit the amount of reading you do, I'd ditch this one.
"Your Pregnancy Week by Week" - I was so excited about this book because of the good reviews it gets, but it's b.o.r.i.n.g. Sign up at www.babycenter.com - they tell you the exact same information for free, leaving out the random unnecessary tidbits for filler (don't need to know my options of what to do if I'm in the military, thanks!)
"Birthing From Within" - This book was not for me, way too "artsy" and alternative. I just couldn't get into it, though I can see where most home-birthers would have more interest in a book like this. If you are into "letting your feelings flow" and getting to the root of fears through drawing, this one's for you.
"The Girlfriend's Guide to Pregnancy" - funny, but way to mainstream for my birth choices. It's light-hearted in nature, and a good source of info on what your body *really* does during pregnancy and how you may feel.
"What to Expect When You're Expecting" - Just walk away from this one.
Babies:
"The Vaccine Book" - If you aren't sure about what vaccines you want to give your baby, or just want to learn about what's in them, and what diseases they prevent, I highly recommend this book. Dr. Sears is actually very PRO vaccination, contrary to what many people believe before they read this book. He makes a good case for using them, and suggestions on variations of schedule as well as reasons that some people choose not to get a particular vaccine. I found it overwhelming, but a very important book. I'll definitely be going back through it when it's time for shots.
"Raising Baby Green" - still working on this one, but it seems pretty boring and dull so far.
On my list of books to read (that I haven't gotten to yet):
"Our Babies, Ourselves: How Biology and Culture Shaped the Way We Parent"
"Great Expectations: Your All-in-One Resource for Pregnancy and Childbirth"
"The Complete Book of Pregnancy and Childbirth"
"Infants, Children, and Adolescents" (a textbook recommended by an ND professor on cognitive development)
.... and more, but I'm exhausted from typing all this!
Don't worry - it's anonymous! Haha. So the game is how much weight I've gained since I found out I was pregnant. I'm currently 15w3d. You have until Wednesday at 5pm to decide on your vote!
It shouldn't be very exciting, but I'm always kind of happy to go visit the midwife. It is still too early to hear the heartbeat with the fetoscope, and we're declining use of the doppler, so it should just be a weigh-in, pee-in-a-cup, and feeling the fundus appointment.
This would be the appointment that we could do the AFP test if we wanted it (we don't). It's essentially a blood test where the measure a few hormones and give you odds on whether your baby has down's syndrome. You have basic odds based on your age and some other factors (mine is < 1 in 1,000), so it'll tell you if you are more or less likely than your basic odds ratio. The problem with this test is that if you get a bad outcome:
1) it doesn't mean much of anything because the test has a 25% false positive rate (tells you your chance is higher than it really is) and
2) the odds of miscarriage if you continue with an amniocentesis (to confirm the AFP) is higher than the chance that your baby actually has downs. And that's assuming you'd actually do anything with the knowledge...
So, we've decided that we are not willing to take the risk of an amnio for such testing, and if we aren't going to do anything with the AFP info, then it's not worth the possible worry.
Last weekend when we were up in Chicago, Teresa and Taylor showered DomerBaby with cute gifts. And they even fit in my little suitcase (good job, ladies!)
From Taylor, we received a bedtime bathset: a bathrobe, slippers, and burp clothes in "soapasaurus" - the hood even has little stegasaurus plates! so cute! I can't wait to give DomerBaby a bath and wrap him/her all up in that (and take a picture, of course!
Teresa's been hard at work knitting and sewing for DomerBaby. You know, in all her spare time while she moved to Japan! Apparently knitting helps when she's stressed, which explains the plethora of items I know have!
She made two sweaters - one in cream and green, and the other in an orange/yellow/white. I love that DomerBaby already has a versatile wardrobe! Who says you have to just use pastels?
She did a "sea themed" wool soaker in turquoise with fishes on 
the bum (awwww). The soaker goes over a cloth diaper as a waterproof cover - they are extra nice because the diaper "breathes" better than with a PUL (polyeurathane laminate) cover.
Finally, she surprised us with a gorgeous white blanket that I'm already terrified to touch, much less put DomerBaby on!
I'm sure I'll get over that eventually... I guess when DomerBaby is born and I'm brainwashed into thinking that the baby is prettier than anything it may poop/puke/pee on! Teresa assures me it's machine washable.
So thank you ladies! We really appreciate it!
And thanks to everyone else who has given us gifts so far... I didn't have the energy to take pictures of everything we've received, but I'm starting to see how babies take up so much room! Eek!
Last Friday, my belly just sort of poked out and stayed that way all weekend. It's gotten a littel bigger - I guess DomerBaby isn't camera shy!
So, here to make his/her debut... I give you DomerBaby at 14w5d gestation!
I think I should do all my belly pics in a black top - it really shows the belly off well!
I'd say I'm about 50% in maternity clothing now. I have sort of a love/hate relationship with
them, especially the jeans.
It's great that they don't dig into my burgeoning belly, but I don't really like how they start falling down if I so much as take a step or bend over.
Now, my work pants, I do love them. It's sort of like wearing stretch pants to work every day. And when I eat too much at lunch (not that I'd ever do that...) I do not suffer for a couple hours afterwards. Unfortunately I only have one pair at this time.
Another bonus is that maternity shirts make you look more pregnant, which is fun and exciting for me.
I've got a few more maternity things today that I purchased from my favorite cloth diaper forum, but it's hard for me to pull the trigger to buy pants online. I might hit up the consignment store again this weekend, as it's getting boring to rotate 3 pairs of pants (only 2 left that still fit - eek!
And you can tell (a little)! I must have started showing on Friday - because everyone could tell all weekend.
I'll try to post pictures in the next couple of days.
Chicago/South Bend was great - we got to see lots of our friends, ND won, and the wedding was beautiful.
Do you have a feeling about whether DomerBaby is a boy or girl? Go ahead and vote in the poll (at the top left of the blog)!
Have a great weekend - Go Irish!
PS. We aren't finding out before DomerBaby shows his/her little parts, so don't get impatient to find out the answer!
Yesterday I received 4 of the 7 books I ordered - all baby related, of course. Should give me lots to do on our flight to Chicago! We've got a wedding Saturday night, but on Friday we're heading to South Bend so we can tailgate on Saturday morning for the first ND game.
I'm pretty sure that I'm the only pregnant lady who would suggest traveling an extra 2 hours to go drink water at a tailgate all morning surrounded by drunk guys, only to turn around and hustle back to a wedding in Chicago that afternoon!
We're excited to hang out with Teresa before she leaves for Japan on Monday for 2 years. ::cry:: We also get to see Taylor, the Becher's, and of course all the drunk guys and their wives/girlfriends/kids, not to mention one gorgeous bride! Should be a fun weekend.
Unfortunately, DomerBaby is still in hiding, so I don't think s/he'll be making an appearance in the form of a cute pregnant belly. I guess that's partly good, since I need my dress to fit on Saturday night!
One can generally start feeling the fundus (the top of the uterus) after 12 weeks. To find it, you basically just press around under your belly button until you feel a hard lump. It peeks out from your pubic bone around 12 weeks and is at your belly button by 20 weeks.
I've been trying to feel my fudus for weeks now, but since my uterus retroverted (tilted back) I hadn't been able to find it - until now!
It appears to be right where it should... perhaps a little higher, even! It went into hiding before I could let T.J. feel, but it was still exciting.
I *tried* to fire up the sewing machine yesterday, only to find that not only did my machine not come with a bobbin, but there are only 2 places in Atlanta where you can procure one! Good grief.
Of course, both of the places are open from 9-5 M-F, and short hours on Saturday. And we'll be out of town next weekend. Grr. Hopefully the dress I need to wear next weekend still fits, since my plan was to alter the dress for my burgeoning belly.
This isn't really baby related, except that I could also have started my baby sewing projects in coming weeks, but now I have to wait. Grr again!
Oh, and the hormones are going wack now. I was crying this morning for no good reason, and all I could think was this imaginary conversation I'd have to have if my coworker came in:
"What's wrong?"
"I'm upset."
"Why?"
"I don't knooooooow! [wail]"
R-I-D-I-C-U-L-O-U-S
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