Another good day

I'm eating like a relatively normal person - although I tend to be turning into a vegetarian. Prenatal yoga, a 2 mile walk and I MADE dinner (it was GOOD, too). It's 8:30 and I am ready for bed :)

i did something

Thankfully, I was a mild useful person today. I did prenatal yoga, lots of laundry, baked some banana bread and walked about 1.5 miles. I'm exhausted!

chivalry

Donavon's chivalry has reached new heights. He insists on disposing of the mouse/bird carnage that Reno brings home almost daily so that I don't have to. I'm so touched.

Madame Zaritska

In the first of a serious of spurious gender prediction tests, we bring you the detailed vision of Madame Zaritska. From a website. I told "her" my favorite color (green), the number of rings I wear (one), what time of day I was born (night), the weather at the time of the reading (i think it was sunny), whether I liked the smell of lavender (no),  and what was the last animal I saw (dog). Here is what she miraculously divined from this intimate information...

Madame Zaritska, our resident clairvoyant, wants to help you prepare for the arrival of your child. Here she does her best to predict certain aspects of your labor and birth experience.

What she senses for you

The day you deliver, outside will be sunny. Your baby will arrive in the morning.

After a labor lasting approximately 16 hours, your child, a girl, will be born. Your baby will weigh about 6 pounds, 12 ounces, and will be 20 inches long. This child will have green eyes and some blond hair.

But there is more. Although you may feel tired, your pregnancy will be over before you are truly ready to let go of having this precious baby you have all to yourself. I sense that you will look back and long for these days. I suggest doing something now to preserve some memories of this time. Many women enjoy making a belly cast. Perhaps you would be interested, too.

I have repeated this reading on a few occasions, changing some variables with the weather and my predilection for lavender, and while the length of labor changes (from 4 hrs to 24 hrs, eek) it always predicts a girl with little to no hair and either green or blue eyes.

Out of the house

Even though Alyssa wasn't feeling all that great last night and all she wanted to do was sleep and eat Wendy's chicken sandwiches, we finally got out of the house.

She wanted to do do something non-baby to get her mind off of the whole pregnancy thing, like go to a movie. So what movie did we do see? Not Iron Man, not Indiana Jones but Baby Mama!

it did not last

I woke up at 12:30 and I will be taking a nap soon. Wow I'm tired. On a high note, we went to Wendy's for yummy food. Spicy chicken sandwich, no mayo, pickles. And a frosty. The frosty is in the freezer because yeah, it was good, but really the chicken sandwich was all I cared about. I wish I had another one.

'Tis the Season

For Alyssa's birthday a few weeks ago, I bought her a hibiscus plant. She also received a Japanese Maple from Carlee and Lance.

Over the past week, we've been getting a good mix of rain and sun and the plants in the back yard love it. So do Alyssa and Merle.

(click image to enlarge)

Alyssa and Merle enjoying the outdoors

 

Alyssa's Birthday Hibiscus

 

Holly Tree

 

Alyssa smiling through the nausea

it's a miracle!

No - not the baby. I mean, yeah, that's a miracle, too, I guess. But I'm talking about the fact that I woke up feeling like a human being this morning. I feel great! I have energy. I had a bowl of cereal for breakfast because that is what a normal person eats. I took the dog for a little stroll and played some stick. Hah.

Please let it last, please let it last, please let it last...

Happy Birthday Evan

Hey Evan,

I hope you like the birthday present that we sent you, but we have an even bigger birthday surprise!

You are going to be a big brother! Yes, that's right Alyssa and I are having a baby. The expected due date is December 17th.

I hope you are excited to have a little brother or sister as we are that you will be his/her big brother.

Dad and Alyssa

Baby's First Pictures

Good news! Today we went in for our first ultrasound and the radiologist said that everything looked fine. She confirmed that the baby is 10 weeks along and measures 3.3cm from head to tiny little toe. Actually I'm not sure that there are toes at this point. :)

It's been a stressful few days and Alyssa is exhausted. When we got home from the appointment, Alyssa went down for a well deserved baby factory nap.

Eat, Sleep, Grow Baby, repeat...

(click image to enlarge)

Our friend Ted (who is a doctor) was kind enough interpret the ultrasound for us. Here is his professional interpretation of the ultrasound image:

Thanks Ted!

today's sandwich

I have a new meal.

Chopped hard boiled egg, canned chunk light tuna and a slice of tomato on a piece of yummy white country bread. Drizzle with olive oil and salt and pepper. I've had 2 so far for lunch.

Now that I know there is a baby in there, I have a renewed urge to eat healthily. I want to make the baby out of HIGH quality material.

Not sure what that means for the lime sherbet.

Baby's First Words

Ok, not really, but we did hear the baby's heartbeat today when we were at the doctor's office. Mommy was doing all she could to contain her joy.

Press play to watch the video below. You can really hear the heartbeat and around 22 seconds.

Here are some pictures taken just after we left the office. As you can see, we are both very happy! (click to view larger image)

I'm lucky

I knew I was lucky to have Donavon. But I don't think I knew how lucky until I got pregnant with him. He knew I wanted lime sherbet without me saying anything.

brrrrrr...

Donavon is sitting next to me in a t-shirt. He just took off his over shirt because he was hot. I am under a fleece blanket, wearing a short sleeved t-shirt, a long sleeve t-shirt and a windbreaker jacket. And a warm cat is sleeping on my lap. And I am freezing. Shivering at the core.

This is one of the symptoms that makes me confident that I am still pregnant. It's not unlike having the flu. It doesn't go away until I am suddenly REALLY hot.

So far I have eaten a batch of failed french toast that left me nauseous, the last of the leftover shrimp mei fun, the inside of half of a vegetarian burrito, half a corn muffin, 2 slices of bread with butter and the other half of the inside of the vegetarian burrito, 2 bowls of sherbet. And more glasses of water than I can count. Another of those flu-like symptoms - I am always thirsty. I have almost no appetite but I'm just trying to eat anything that sounds ok.

Keep thinking about going to the midwife tomorrow. I'm nervous but excited.

account

Half a muffin, leftover shrimp mei fun, 3 bowls of lime sherbet, grilled cheese (fontina), some more lime sherbet out of the carton, slice of bread with butter, half a blackberry ice cream bar, chocolate milk, half a burger with hummous, tabbouleh and pickles on it, 2 bedtime crackers.

Let a Sleeping Pregnant Woman Lie

Shhhhhhh... Do not disturb her. She's had her sherbet and now needs her rest.

I take it back

I feel pregnant. Two naps and three bowls of lime sherbet later, I better be.

babydrama

After spotting and faint cramping on Thursday night, I called my midwife. I'm going in Monday for some tests and to check for fetal heart sounds with the Doppler. Everything I read says this kind of thing can be very normal, so I'm focusing on being in the normal category. The reason she wants me in is because we haven't actually verified that this is a viable pregnancy (heart sounds, ultrasound). If we had some evidence that everything is going well up until now, it would be less of an issue.

My appointment to hear the heart beat wasn't until 11+ weeks until this happened. Now, HOPEFULLY we will hear it a little sooner. It is pretty early to hear with the Doppler, though. Casey, the midwife assistant, said the earliest she has gotten sounds was 9 weeks. The general wisdom is that they should be able to hear something within 8-10 weeks. In some women, it won't pick up until 12 weeks. If my due date is off at all or if my anatomy is such that we can't get it, it may be necessary to go for an ultrasound.

She will probably take blood to check hCG levels. I guess that will depend on the Doppler results.

I feel pretty good this morning - which, of course, has me worried. Again, it could just be normal feeling better as I go on, but in conjunction with cramping I kind of wish I was feeling awful. I would be more confident that I am still/really pregnant. All of the symptoms aren't gone, but I'm barely nauseous, I have some energy and I even have a little appetite. Just a little. There is still the rest of the day to get sick. Fingers crossed!

Trying to stay distracted this weekend. Knitting, going outside, avoiding the foul stench wafting in from the neighbor's, avoiding friends who don't know. The usual.

Pregnant Woman Needs Chinese Food!

 

If your pregnant wife is craving Chinese food, don't let her place the phone call. This is our "dinner for two". To give you an idea of just how much food this is, the restaurant sent along five forks.

Have a nice day.

and the winner is...

Lime sherbet. I've had 3 mugs so far today. The other ice creams were ok (I tried Butterfinger and Peanut Butter Tracks, too, last night) but the sherbet is far in the lead.

What Donavon neglected to mention is that, at first, the only sherbet I could find was an $8 party tub. Not only was I concerned that I wouldn't be able to eat a party tub (I'm less concerned and a little regretful now) but also I didn't think it would fit in our freezer. I was kind of close to crying at that point. After careful searching, there was some sherbet disguised in ice cream packaging. I had NO idea that sherbet came in any packaging other than those clear tubs with a thick white lid that you satisfyingly peel off, like on Fluff tubs. Unfortunately, they didn't have rainbow sherbet in the more reasonable size, which caused a little distress. Eventually I pulled it together and settled on Key Lime, with the other ice creams as back up in case the flavor was all wrong.

Pregnant Woman Needs Ice Cream!

Earlier in the day Alyssa told me that she was amazed that while some women crave ice cream when pregnant, it didn't sound good to her at all. Hours later we were trolling the ice cream case at the grocery store trying to pick out the perfect flavor flavors. To be fair, the small one in the lower right is mine. :)

muffins

They weren't that good.

What will I fall in love with next? Those turkey burgers still sound good but I'm too afraid of the heartburn now.

It is cruel that the one time in a woman's life when she is encouraged to gain weight and should eat more, she doesn't want to.

I don't want that anymore

For some reason I had terrible heartburn last night - it is supposed to hit in the third trimester when the kid is kicking you in the stomach all the time, not now! Perhaps it is due to the pickle and hummous laden turkey burgers I was eating regularly. I have been getting away with the "I'm so nauseous but when I am hungry I like spicy, garlicky food" gig for long enough, I guess. Unfortunately, I have four containers of hummous in the refrigerator because I was eating it nonstop for days. Now, I have no interest in the hummous. So, today's best food - progresso chicken and wild rice soup. It was a beautiful thing, eating that soup. It even got a few carrots into me. And heartburn friendly? Maybe?

We just bought 5 muffins because it is the only thing I want for breakfast for the last week. Let's hope I still want them tomorrow morning.

9 weeks: favorite meal

I have had at least 5 turkey burgers in as many days. Not just any turkey burger. One with sliced tomato, sauteed spinach, hummous and sliced pickles. Yeah, I know. Pickles. It is perfection.

Happy Mother's Day

Yesterday was my first Mother's Day. Aw.

everyone sleeps 14 hrs a night, right?

I went to bed at 11:30 last night and I woke up at 8:30. I ate half of a muffin then let the cat in and out several times. At 10:00 I went back to bed until 1. Real sleep. Hard sleep. Like night time sleep. This is most of what being pregnant is so far. I'm tired, I'm going to puke, I'm cold, I'm hot. Usually only 2 or 3 of those things at once, though.

more to come

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