Charting the Belly: Week 23

I know.  It's been about a month since I last posted a picture.  But, my photographer was busy finishing his thesis...

Too many Christmas cookies?

Insurance Woes

Worst case scenario happened...WEA Trust, my school district's insurance plan, has refused to cover any of our Certified Professional Midwife's services.  Not even an out-of-network percentage.  Their reasoning is that LaNette, the midwife we were working with, is not a nurse, and therefore, the plan will not cover any of the claims submitted.  I found this out a couple of weeks ago after the insurance company called me, and I was super bummed.  We have absolutely loved working with LaNette, and she has been everything we were looking for in a provider.

After I had my meltdown, I took the recommendations of LaNette and a Physician's Assistant friend here in the Milwaukee area, and we decided to go with Aurora Sinai Midwifery and Wellness Center.  It's a group practice of Certified Nurse Midwives, and they have birthing privileges at the Aurora Birth Center.  We took a tour of the birthing center, and it seemed nice (like a hotel room nice), except that they don't allow water births.  They do have a whirlpool to labor in, so that's close.  It's on a first-come-first-served basis, and the nurse that gave us the tour said that not many people use it.  Good.  That means that as soon as I get there, I'm jumping in and not getting out until the baby is delivered.  Nate reminded me that if I do that, they'll probably drug me.

I look at it like this: having a baby out of the "standard hospital-OB/GYN birth" box is a luxury birth, even though it costs significantly less.  Some behind-the-times insurance companies refuse to recognize that there are other options to having a baby that cost half the amount of what the traditional methods cost, and these options are just as safe.  Unfortunately, Nate and I cannot afford to pay the near $5,000 it would cost us to have the prenatal care and delivery that we wanted, so we're forced to have the baby in a traditional hospital setting.  Of course, this all happened for a reason, and whatever reason that is, I've been trusted to have this experience, even though this wasn't exactly what I had in mind.

Does This Baby Make Me Look Fat?

I'm depressed.  I have already gained 20 pounds so far and I'm just over 22 weeks along.  According to the guidelines, I'm "a bit ahead of schedule."  The baby isn't even one pound, yet my check up last week showed that I gained nine pounds from last month to this one.

Does her mullet add a pound or two?

I guess I'll have to tone down the eating now that the holidays are over.  No more of these kinds of conversations:

"I'm going to finish the apple pie, okay?" I inform Nate.
"Split that apple pie in half and share it."  He gives me that you already ate your extra 300 calories today look.  I ignore the look while I reluctantly cut the pie fairly evenly down the middle, but I scoop the larger piece out of the pie tin and into my hand.  I lift it up to my mouth and Nate sees me chomp down, enjoying it like a giant slice of pizza.
"You don't want a plate?" he says.
"No.  Do you?"
"Um, yeah...And a fork."

Merry Christmas!

I must say how impressed I am with the amount of gifts an unborn fetus can get for Christmas.  Nearly 300 diapers, stuffed animals, onesies, a pacifier, hats, sleepers, a bathing chair, and I can't even remember what else.  At least no one got it this sweet Christmas tree costume:

Mr. Belvedere has been punching away lots in the last couple of weeks, but it's been rather quiet since we've been at my in-laws for the holiday.  I think it's going to be like its introverted dad--quiet around people it doesn't know.

It's Alive!

I can no longer question if I'm feeling Mr. Belvedere--it's definitely moving around and kicking!  Probably since before Thanksgiving, I've felt the "flutters," but I was hesitant to say that it was.  As a side note, I personally think that the movements feel like a muscle spasm, like when your eyelid twitches or you get a spasm in your arm.  But in the past week or so, it's no longer been in question.  Yesterday at work, after what was an exhausting day, I was sitting at my desk with my hands on my belly, and I felt what was an unmistakable punch, kick or head butt.  I looked down, and on the next movement, I actually saw a small area of my belly pop out.  I laughed.

This afternoon, I had to send a student down to the in-school suspension room, and any time I have a confrontation with a student, the adrenaline starts to pump through my body.  Well, that seems to make the baby flip around a lot, and it tickles.  So while I'm trying to discipline this student in front of a wild class of 32 eighth graders, I feel like laughing.  Not helpful.

This is Ridiculous

I haven't laughed this hard in awhile.  You have got to check out these awkward pregnancy photos.

Half-Baked

Yesterday marked 20 weeks down, and about 20 more to go!  I celebrated by...eating!  This is my favorite thing to do, especially when I find something that hits the spot.  I can go to the Pick 'n Save somewhat hungry, but not find a single thing in there that I want to eat.  And I will look hard, too, even doubling back through the aisles trying to find that one thing that's going to hit the spot.  I keep telling Nate that I want steak, but we don't have a grill that would make that possible.
I am horribly repelled by any reheated meat, however.  I noticed this the day after Thanksgiving as I pulled my piping hot leftovers from the microwave, took one whiff of the reheated turkey, and quickly moved it far away from the rest of my food.  I have sometimes remembered to zap lunch meat in the microwave to fry the Listeria bacteria before I ate it, but I couldn't tolerate that dead carcass smell, so I'm done with that precaution.

Unfortunately, one not-so-tactful 8th grade young lady who frequents the office I share with a couple of other teachers noticed how much I am consuming and the frequency with which I'm eating.  She said, "Ms. W, every time I come in here, you're always eating."
I stopped the forkful of salad on its way to my mouth and said, "So?  I'm hungry.  And I eat lots of little meals throughout the day."
"Yeah, but you eat fattening things like pasta.  But I guess the broccoli you add to it makes it better.  You really should be careful."
"Thanks for the advice, Olivia."
Punk.

Unwanted Pregnancy Advice Slayer

Charting the Belly: Week 19

Baby + Thanksgiving =  Gratitude for elastic waistbands

The Students are Curious

Yesterday, during my ninth hour Spanish class, I was sitting on the floor grading some papers while the students were working on a project, researching at the computer, and putting together posters.  I had several piles of papers around me, and I went to grab a stack, and there was a folded piece of paper with "To: Ms. W" written on the front.  I opened it up, and it read:
"Are you pregnent [sic]?  If you are, tell the whole class."

I laughed aloud, stood up, got the class's attention and said, "Yes, I am expecting a baby at the end of April.  And no, I'm not just putting on weight from the holidays."  I smiled and asked, "Who wrote this, by the way?"

A girl piped up and said, "I did.  And I wrote it with my left hand.  Can you tell?"

Then came the cacophony of responses:
"Really?!"
"I knew it last month."
"When's your sub coming?"
"Will you name it after me?"
"Are you having a boy or girl?"
"Can we throw you a shower?"
"How come you're so small?"

At least this wasn't nearly as ridiculous as the response I got from a student in my seventh hour class last month:
"Who's the dad?"
I couldn't believe it, but then I remembered where I was.

Flutters and Flips

I'm one week shy of being officially halfway through the pregnancy.  Nineteen weeks down, and twenty-one weeks (or so) to go!  I am increasingly more convinced that I've felt Mr. Belvedere (my sister's semi-endearing nickname for the baby that has stuck) swim around.  Last week, I could only feel it when I was super still and not moving.  But, lately, I just have to be sitting down.  I usually ride the bus home from work, and I felt it this afternoon and had a little grin on my face for awhile.  Of course, I constantly doubt that I'm feeling Mr. B...

I've been playing music for the past two nights as I lie in bed.  I put my iPod ear buds on my belly and play what I consider to be good, but sophisticated, baby music.  It listened to a couple of Ratatat songs, and then I switched to Philip Glass and Ravi Shankar.  Last night, it rocked out to Yann Tiersen's soundtrack from Amelie.  I would have played some Beethoven or Mozart, but I don't have any of that right now on my iPod.