I don't have any resolutions to start tomorrow - I think there will be enough change in our household come March. But we're incredibly grateful for the last year - it's been a fantastic one with all our travels, seeing family and friends, enjoying each other and our work, and getting ready for DomerBaby. I can only imagine that 2009 will be even better!
Happy new year everyone!
That's right. We have not made any mistakes yet, so we have a perfect record with DomerBaby. For 2 more months. Hahaha. Which is why I can tell you the story of the horrible little children at the Christmas Eve mass we attended with a clear conscious!
First of all, we attended the children's mass of our own volition. I remember as a child going to mass all dressed up, sitting (mostly) quietly - though probably fidgeting a lot and being a nuisance to my parents - when I was small. When we were older, we participated in the choir, which I *do* remember was a very solemn and quiet job, indeed. The music instructor made it very clear that we were not to talk, whisper, move, or even breathe too loudly because our noises carried throughout the church. I remember, as children, going up to the front to see the baby Jesus and learn about how it's not *really* about Santa, to which we all agreed of course - it's only polite not to burst the priest's bubble, after all.
Well, apparently things work differently at the church we attended this Christmas. The children's choir was having a great time, and it showed. They were generally well mannered, though a bit noisy and had to be shushed at times. I was sad to see so many jeans, tennis shoes, and cargo pants throughout the church instead of choir robes or at least holiday attire. There were of course, the requisite crying children, which didn't bother me much, except the priest explicitly "invited" people to bring their crying children to the lobby and you could tell he was irritated when his request was ignored.
But the worst - the worst! - was when the priest called up all the children to hear about baby Jesus. Kids were going wild - jumping all over (including on the priest), not listening to the priest when he asked them to sit quietly, and even sassing off to him! The poor man could obviously not control them. He was trying to get them to participate by asking questions, like "what's more important, Jesus, or Santa. I don't know if these kids are just idiots, or their parents have never taken them to church, but the answer the priest wanted was always pretty obvious to me as a child WHEN I WAS IN CHURCH. Not to them. How embarrassing.
Anyway, T.J. and I were duly appalled by the entire thing, and more than a little terrified that our children will someday act like that in public (probably a 100% probability, but hopefully not in church).
So that's my judgy mcjudgerson post about bad parenting. If you were the person with the terrible little boy at St. Thomas Aquinas Church, shame on you. And I hope he got coal in his stocking!
[note: I am perfectly aware that my children, my current views, and this very post, will embarrass me in a way I cannot imagine in the future. But I'm willing to post entertaining stories for you! Don't you feel special?]
I received the diapers I posted about a couple weeks ago - and they are so cute! I showed them to T.J., and he was able to tell right away that they were "different" from the fitted diapers we have so far. So impressed. I was showing him how you put an insert in the pocket part, and he got all excited and said we should get ShamWow towels to stuff with! So funny. It's actually a great idea, though I've heard that microfiber can be hold onto odors, making natural fibers like hemp or bamboo a better choice. He was so excited though, that maybe we'll get some.
We also bought some adorable organic things (I know, I know, but they were ON SALE):
Organic bumble bee soft teether:
Organic veggie crate clutch/teething toys:
T.J. has already named all the veggies. We have Mikey the Mushroom, Cathy the Carrot, Randy the Radish, and Billy the Bean. He is very angry that I posted the names he made up - but I can't help it. It makes me all mushy when he gets involved!
And last but not least, the organic Moby Wrap! I got to see one in action last weekend when I saw my friend Kat and her adorable baby Marion. Marion hung out in it for the better part of 3 hours while we chatted in Starbucks, smiling, sleeping, and barely a cry when she was sleepy! I'm sold! You can wear it a million different ways, I can't wait to try it with a baby!
So, no more baby purchases till after the shower, I promise! Haha
Well, sort of. I've been taking my iron and chlorophyll supplements per Charlotte's instructions, and while I'm not exactly "productive" all the time, I actually will do things like laundry, grocery shopping, and cooking again! I think it must be working. Yey for energy!
I know you've all been waiting with baited breath. Hehe. I have grown considerably! Sadly, I think I've crossed over to just "gigantic" instead of "cute-pregnant".
I don't mind, as it means we're getting close to seeing the baby! I'm getting excited to meet him or her. It's neat that there is still so much mystery involved!
30 week picture:
Time line update:
I now have to lean forward to see them. Oh joy!
In other news, we watched "The Other Boleyn Girl" this weekend and I am now paranoid that something I have done has injured my baby. I told T.J. that and he gave me the "you are insane" look, but still. Mother guilt already? No fair!
I think DomerBaby is going to be a soccer player - it's been kicking up a storm! I hope that fetuses kick in their sleep, otherwise we definitely do NOT have a mini-T.J. super-sleeper on our hands. It's fun and reassuring to feel though.
Baby has been INSANELY active the last couple of days. Because of my dedication to the blog, you lucky readers can enjoy the effects on my belly! This required serious dedication - I had to sit in my rocking chair with my camera and watch the belly. And you all know how I hate to be in my chair. I mean, I only spend like 3 hours a day in it. [Edit: Nevermind T.J.'s golfing discussion going on the background! It was almost 70 here today, so he went golfing!]
So, here's the baby rolling from left to right. There is a kick about 5 seconds in, and then the baby does this roll thing towards the right side. I have to breathe still, so you just have to deal with that!
The second one is also a big roll from left to right. Don't ask me how it is always going from left to right - it is. I *think* it's just it's leg, but who knows. This baby keeps me guessing. This one has some little kicks early on, but the big action starts about 15 seconds into it:
The last one is a big swift kick on my right side. Baby gets me at about 10 seconds I think:
Hopefully you find this as fun to watch I do. We're having lots of fun watching the baby grow!
Today I boiled diapers. That's right, on my stove, in my soup pot. So that my baby will have a nice, comfortably fluffy, butt. So far all the diapers I've purchased for DomerBaby are used (except the print I posted the other day - which I haven't received yet). Some of them are in excellent condition, very soft, etc. Others came in sort of crunchified, but otherwise in great condition with the elastic and such intact. Fear not! It's actually crunchy from detergent build-up, not any nasties in the diapers themselves. So I wanted to see if I could boil (strip) the buildup out of them and make them soft again.
Here's my method, in case anyone needs to do theirs:
Round One:
Boiled water in stock pot, then added the diapers.
Added 3 at a time, and changed water after every other load.
Used tongs to stir them around, as there was air bubbles in them (normal).
I also had some smaller pots going on the other burners to speed heating time for the next batch of water.
Fished out the diapers to cool - I rinsed them with cold water so I could wring them out.
Round Two:
Boiled water in stock pot with maybe 1/4c vinegar, then added the diapers 3 at a time as above.
This time I changed the water every load to ensure that they weren't soaking in soapy water.
Fished them out and dumped them all into the washing machine.
The Washer:
I didn't have a lot of diaper friendly detergent options, so this time I went with a TINY amount of All Small & Mighty Free and Clear detergent. Probably 2 tablespoons is all, but this was too much!
I put vinegar in the rinse slot with this first wash. I washed on "heavy cotton wash" cycle on HOT with an extra rinse.
Since there was still soap suds, I did another rinse.
There was STILL suds, so I did another rinse (thank goodness we have a high-efficiency front loader!)
Then I tossed them into the drier.
The Results:
Amazing!!! You can still tell which ones were the crunchified ones, but they are WAY softer. Mostly you can tell because the terry cloth is more matted than the other ones, and a little more gray. The semi-crusty ones are almost perfect now! I would highly highly recommend trying this with any crusty diapers you might have.
Note: these are all newborn sized diapers, so they aren't used for very long, just a couple of months. If you are trying to strip diapers because of ammonia problems, I'm not sure my method would work as well - there may be additional steps, like adding Dawn to the boiling process. I am just basically prepping mine and trying to make them as soft as possible, so I didn't want to add additional soap.
I'm just going to link the album, because there are so many! Here are a couple teasers though:
I got a few more diapers today (for a steal, of course). DomerBaby will be all decked out for Teresa in Japan!
This is a Happy Heiny pocket diaper. It's one of the simpler diapers to use - the waterproof cover is sandwiched between a soft inner layer that touches the baby and the printed outer layer that you see. You "stuff" an absorbant insert in between the waterproof layer and the inner layer of the diaper. Th
e top layer close to baby wicks the moisture into the absorbant layer, similarly to how disposables work.
This type of diaper is considered to be one of the most convenient types, as it doesn't require a lot of steps to get it on and off. Many people use these for daycare, as they work in the same way as disposables once they are stuffed. There is an added bonus that you can adjust the absorbency (and hence, the bulkiness of the diaper) by choosing what you use as the insert. Most people add thicker inserts at night and lighter ones during the day.
Today was our 28 week appointment. Unfortunately, T.J. is in Iowa, so I went to this one alone. He didn't miss anything good, though - no worries!
First, the hospital midwife: I saw Kay today, and she was very nice, but not very thorough. My blood pressure was good - 100/60, and she was happy with my weight gain and all that. In fact, she was looking at my chart and just like "wow, everything is going perfectly". So I was happy about that. She listened to the heartbeat with the stethoscope (I got to hear too - very fun) but did not measure it. And she didn't measure my fundus, which I thought was odd. I think I've actually only had it measured once or twice there, though. She felt the baby and I'm very pleased to say that the baby is head down! In her words, the baby was very low - unusually low for a first time mother. She said I have great birthing hips. Niiiice.
After that appointment, I asked for a copy of my bloodwork from last month (they did the glucose tolerance test and I wanted to show Charlotte).
At Charlotte's, I showed her my bloodwork, and I was blown away by the results! My glucose was great - only 85 - but they also measured a bunch of other things and my red blood count, hemoglobin, hematocrit, and platelet counts were all low. And not just marginally low. Like, it seems pretty seriously low! Charlotte was quite concerned, and put me on an iron supplement in addition to my prenatal vitamin and also told me to take liquid chlorophyll, which should increase my platelet count. I'll also be sucking down the red raspberry leaf tea, which can help with iron.
I was pretty baffled at how the doctor's office blew off these results - it's their lab report, and the items that are out of range even get automatically highlighted on the print out. Charlotte told me that it's just not a big deal to them, because if you are at a hospital and have any blood issues they can do a transfusion. Seriously?!? WTF people! I kind of hope this is just her bias against them, but I don't really have a better explanation.
She did say that my feeling of laziness and sugar cravings are most likely tied to these low levels, so hopefully with my supplements I'll be able to get some energy back.
Anyway, besides that, everything is coming along well. All the stuff Charlotte tests for in my urinalysis came back great, and my blood pressure there was 106/64, so it sounds like I can drive in Atlanta without serious agitation. Haha! Charlotte measured the heartbeat at 140 bpm (normal) and was able to get a better feel for the position of the baby. It's definitely head down like Kay said, and it's mostly on the right side of my belly. But it's turned a bit funny so that one leg is splayed out near the left side of my belly button, which is why I can get good kicks there at night. Charlotte actually "grabbed" the leg. Baby didn't like that though - it doesn't like to be pushed around.
I'm going to try and draw a picture tonight of the way I think the baby is in my belly, because I think it's super cool.
Charlotte now has an assistant, Jessica, who seems nice. She'll be attending the birth as well to help Charlotte. In other exciting midwifery news, it sounds like Georgia may push through a licensing program for CPMs like Charlotte which would (1) make it legal for THEM to attend us and (2) make it open to reimburement for INSURANCE! Yey! I love seeing change in the crappy system that is American obstetrics.
The Plenty Magazine blog requires extreme dedication to my Google Reader. They post about 20 items per day, it seems. I originally subscribed because my most favorite blog did a spinoff on this blog - which is aimed at environmentalists.
(quick, go check out that link - it's uber funny)
Anyway, since I have a reputation of being crunchy, I thought I'd link today's post, as it is pretty funny and describes our house well.
The first thing you will notice about environmentalists is the smell. As it stands, they come in three flavors: lavender, patchouli, and natural. This is due to the fact that environmentalists do not use deodorant because it contains aluminum and a number of chemicals that concern them greatly. Instead, environmentalists prefer the scents of nature. The most committed allow their own bodies to dictate their smell identity. More often than not this will lead you to believe that the person you are talking to is an organic onion or garlic farmer. Fortunately, there are no environmentalists who consider it an insult to be mistaken for an organic farmer.
As for the rest of their grooming regimen, a look into the shower stall of an environmentalist will reveal several bottles of natural shampoos that didn’t work but can’t be thrown away, and of course, handmade soap. Once you have confirmed that your new friend has an oddly shaped bar of soap, you should ask them if they make their own. If the answer is yes, you have discovered what you will be receiving for your birthday! If the answer is no, then you know exactly what to get them for nondenominational holidays.
Read Part Three: Being Depressed by Statistics
Read Part Two: Brainwashing Children
Read Part One: Bringing Numerous Talking Point to Dinner
Don't worry, we don't make our own soap (yet) so you are safe this Christmas. I do have Tom's of Maine lavender scented deodorant though, which made me laugh. I prefer the crystal though - I swear it actually works well!
It's a small step, but I'm excited nonetheless. There are all sorts of supplies that you need to birth at home... just little things like peri boddles, gauze sponges, something called "surgilube", a cord clamp, foot-printer, etc. The midwife will deliver the birthing tub around 36 weeks when we do our home visit. Hopefully my nesting urge will kick in before that so our house isn't a disaster!
Tomorrow is my 28 week appointment. I don't think there will be anything very interesting. Most likely I'll get scolded for eating too much candy (I blame my coworkers - they relentlessly bring in chocolate) and we'll find out which way the baby is lying. I'll also get a copy of my bloodwork from last time, so we'll see if there is anything interesting there.
I'm still confused about which way it is, but it's about 90% on the right side of my belly! I wonder what's so distasteful about the left side. Weird kid. The kicks have been in the middle/right of my belly lately, so I'm pretty baffled.
I got home late last night, and T.J. went straight to the frozen tundra - I mean Des Moines. We had a great time visiting with family and friends, and I had a shower there! Everyone was so generous, we were completely overwhelmed by all the wonderful and thoughtful gifts we received. Unfortunately I don't have pictures to show you yet. I'm sure I'll get some soon!
Pittsburgh is my new favorite place, because everyone was so complimentary. It was just what my hormonal self needed. Even a woman at the airport looked at me, did this double-take/hesitation thing, and said "You look beautiful!" (did she read my blog post from last week??? hehe). Other gems included "You can't tell you are pregnant from the back" and "You look fabulous/amazing". Tell me more, tell me more! Hahaha. So my ego is nice and big, probably until I step on the scale tomorrow after a weekend of indulgence!
Oh, and when we flew in to Pittsburgh it was snowing, and it looked so lovely for the party on Saturday. Everything melted by Monday, but we were so happy to see snow. It made it feel much more like Christmas.
My thoughts are starting to turn more towards labor and delivery lately, and I remembered that my midwife mentioned that "they" say you will have your baby exactly 5 months after quickening (when you feel the baby for the first time).
I looked back at my blog posts, and that was September 27. Which would give DomerBaby a birthdate of February 27.
Now, I think DomerBaby is going to be a St. Paddy's day babe, so I don't believe it at all. But ya never know. MeeMaw (T.J.'s grandma) says she thinks the baby is coming in late February... maybe she knows something we don't!
Things one should not say or do to a pregnant woman:
1.) "Wow, you can really tell that you are pregnant from the way you are waddling... I mean walking."
2.) "You know, pregnancy is great for a while with the glow, but then women just get big, uncomfortable, and grumpy."
Note: just do not comment on a woman's mood, period. This really isn't limited to pregnancy.
3.) Any comment about clothing being too tight, small, or too frumpy unless you are their bestest friends.
4.) Any suggestion that the clothing at Victoria's Secret would not "fit" them anymore. We are not pregnant in our butt, and our boobs are fantastic, thanks.
5.) "Wow - you look so much further along than that!"
6.) "Are you sure it isn't twins [wink wink]."
7.) Any effort to touch a stranger's (or possibly even an acquaintance's) belly, especially if you are in an elevator. Or at work. Or at the store. Or at church. You get the point.
Appropriate things to say to or do for a pregnant woman:
1.) "You look great!"
2.) "You make it look so easy"
3.) "You'll be a wonderful mother"
4.) "Can I carry that for you?" (but let it go if she says no thanks)
5.) Walk slowly - we have to be careful now, as our balance is off, and it's frankly just hard to keep up.
6.) Ask what they feel like eating, and be ready with suggestions if they aren't sure.
7.) NOTHING - pregnant women are just as happy as normal strangers to be ignored.
Here's another eco-baby article about toy buying. After we got our toys-for-tots, I had a small bit of guilt about the non-eco friendliness of them, but I think we did alright getting *active* toys at least - sports gear, sidewalk chalk, play-doh, etc... None of our toys required power sources, either. That was not an accident. T.J. and I both feel pretty strongly about providing toys for children that make them active and use their imagination.
It did make me realize how easy it is to forget about toy safety when you are concerned about what a child might actually want - and how hard it may be to balance the child's wants with both safety and earth friendliness. Since our target age was past the "eat everything" stage for the toys we bought, I feel all right about the options we chose. Even the packaging wasn't too over the top. If we had been buying baby stuff though I think I'd have made a bee-line for the wooden toys (with non-toxic paint!). That's a lot easier, too, as babies aren't concerned with brand names yet.
So, just a little realization (for me) that it's much easier to talk the talk than walk the walk with a lot of the ideas I've been touting on here. It doesn't mean we aren't going to do our best to be safe and eco-conscious, but I feel a bit like a wanna-be now rather than a true green mama! A good lesson in humility for me, I suppose.
That seems to be the consensus in my belly! DomerBaby has been wildly active lately! Tonight it's been crawling back up top a bit... maybe to go back head down? I guess we'll see if the heartburn returns!
And I'm happy to report that after about 50 miles of driving, 5 days, and 84 envelopes later, all the people on my Christmas list should be receiving cards as fast as the USPS can deliver them. And since my father in law works at the post office, I know we'll get special service.
I've grown out of 99% of my non-maternity clothes (though this doesn't mean I don't attempt wearing them now and again), and I've started growing out of some of my maternity stuff shirts. But today I put on one of T.J.'s dress shirts to go under a sweater, and it fits. For real. It buttons all the way, and doesn't pull.
I find this particularly strange because as you all know, T.J. is ridiculously skinny. So thin that I weighed more than him BEFORE I got pregnant. Did I mention that he's about eight inches taller than me? And I'm not (usually) a heavyweight myself.
Is this some sort of cruel fashion joke? Slim men's clothes fit pregnant women, but maternity clothes do not? Ladies, I think we're being scammed.
T.J. and I went Christmas shopping on Saturday. But for the first time ever, we did our shopping at Toys'R'Us! We went out to buy toys to donate, and frankly, it is way more fun buying for all the adults on our list. We got all sorts of cool stuff. Well, we think it's cool stuff. Check it all out:
If the tots enjoy the toys half as much as we enjoyed shopping for them, I think it'll have been more than worth it!
I am no longer capable of making simple decisions, like whether or not to go to the grocery store, or what size envelopes to use for Christmas cards.
Thank goodness I have people who can help me! LOL
In other news, the baby seems to have gone back to being transverse. It seems much more uncomfortable for baby though - I keep getting these "pushes" - they aren't jabs, more like the baby is trying in vain to stretch out and get some room. I try to tell it that if it flips back to head down it'll have plenty of room - but alas, it is ignoring mama.
I got 2 diaper covers in the mail today!
I got this bummi snap:
And this motherease air flow:
I keep accidentally buying plain white ones, even though I keep saying I'm going to get cute ones. Oops! I need to redouble my cuteness efforts for DomerBaby. I just can't pass up the deals!
This is not a mumu, it's a sweater I bought before I had any sort of belly, so I was not hip to the jive of how a belly can make a sweater look. I think I look a bit like certain characters from Alice in Wonderland. All I'm missing is the giant bow:
Hmm, I'm beginning to think the maternity clothing industry may take their cues from tweedle dee and tweedle dum!
Here is the same night - 26w5d Pregnant
I much prefer my yoga wear.
No, it's not DomerBaby's gender (though I think it's a boy). We've been doing our Christmas shopping! I'm super excited to give out some of these gifts. That is all I will say... such a tease.
Last night we set up the tree - it's beautiful. T.J. does a great job with the lights. My new rocker is set up across the room from it, so when I rock it looks like the tree is twinkling. I love Christmas.
And we're staying home this year, so if anyone wants to come for Christmas, let me know. We have lots of room! Haha.
I'll hopefully post new pictures tonight!
We're coming down the final stretch, people! How freaking exciting is that???
latest and greatest from the womb:
1) I am almost positive that DomerBaby has turned from being transverse (laying sideways cradled in my pelvis) to the head-down position. I'm getting kicked up higher now. This is great, as generally babies move into the head-down by 28 weeks. We'll see if it stays put though - it's still doing acrobats in there it seems!
2) Holy heartburn! This is the other reason I think s/he flipped. The last 3 days I've had horrid heartburn at night. It must have realized how much more room there is that way, since it can kick my stomach into my throat.
3) I think the nesting stage is beginning. I've been fantasizing about throwing all our stuff out to make room for the baby. (Don't tell T.J.)
I went to yoga tonight, and it was my favorite session yet. Tonight we practiced sounds at the end (for labor). We were all making these melodic "aaaaaaahhhhh" sounds for like 5 minutes - like a choir. It really did sound like a choir. Or a chant.
Anyway, I don't know if it was the vibration of the sounds, or the group-ness of it, or because you run low on oxygen (it focuses on lengthening exhales), but I got this really really neat feeling of largess and well being. Like I was the focus of the world. And it felt like I was just... big. But in a good way. Like puffed up to 2-3 times my size. It was like, if I was dough, I had risen and was now 3 times bigger.
I know, totally strange. But it was amazing. I felt fantastic afterwards. My mind was totally racing afterwards, which is bit strange because usually I'm all mellow. This time I was so excited and refreshed. I can't wait to try it in labor.
I'm officially a hippy freak.
Although I weigh myself every few days, I haven't paid too much attention except to raise my eyebrows periodically and report it to you all. After last month's appointments, when both of my midwives raised *their* eyebrows, I've been trying to eat healthier. Being done with tax season is helping a lot, too. So tonight I did the numbers, and they very odd. Just goes to show that everyone gains differently:
Month 1: +0.0
Month 2: +5.5
Month 3: +1.0
Month 4: +5.0
Month 5: +9.5
Month 6: +2.0
And I'm pleased to report that instead of ice cream and cranberry sauce for breakfast, I had an english muffin and an apple!
Fun pregnancy fact of the day: my belly now hits my legs when I go up stairs!
Fun Georgia fact of the day: Senatorial republican candidate campaigned yesterday with Sarah Palin. Democratic candidate campaigned with (rapper) Ludacris.
1) I'm not sure who to take less seriously
2) as Auntie Debbie pointed out, it's ironic that Sarah Palin is ludicrous.
We were thankful to have good friends to spend our day with - and electricity!
Our electricity went out about an hour before the turkey was set to be done (in our electric oven). It was only out for 20 minutes, but it was definitely long enough for me to have a hormonal meltdown crying that we would have a totally raw food Thanksgiving! Haha.
All's well that ends well, though - the power came on about 5 minutes after our first guests arrived, and we were only set back about a half hour with dinner! I am already thinking of how to improve next year's dinner and streamline the process since we'll have DomerBaby underfoot!
I think we will keep the normal stuffing (maybe make a double recipe it's so popular!), nix the mashed potatoes, and make sweet potato souffle a standing part of dinner. And I will never make green bean casserole from a can again! It turned out sooooo good.
Here's a picture of our tables... no food pics, I forgot and since dinner was so late I wouldn't have wanted to keep people waiting further, but the turkey was golden brown and delicious, as Alton Brown would say!
Dinner:
Buffet:
Dessert:
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