Charting the Belly: Week 26

Packers vs. Bears Game Day

My new favorite shirt

Go Bears!!

Can't hide it anymore...

Baby Dreams

I've only had one dream that I remember about the baby and that was in the first trimester.  I dreamed it was a baby boy.  I haven't had any other dreams recently about the baby, but I've had a whole slew of bizarre and vivid dreams.

I had an intensely colorful dream about my dad several nights ago, and that's the second dream that I've had about him since he passed away.  There were tornadoes off in the distance, and he was in the lawn in his wheelchair, and I needed to bring him inside.  We talked for a bit, but I don't remember about what.  After the tornadoes had passed, there were clouds close to the ground, and a flock of about twenty snowy owls flew out.  I don't think that owls travel in flocks, but it was pretty impressive.

One website said that during the second trimester, women report an increase in dreams about animals, and another site said that dreaming about animals reminds us to "trust our instincts."  It also mentioned that seeing birds can mean freedom and success.

Regardless of what dreams mean or don't mean, the ones I've had in the past several months have been pretty amazing.

Fetuses Are Funny

I don't get my fetus.  Some days it's super quiet and doesn't do much, other than a few rolls and lazy jabs and upper cuts.  Other days, like last night and this morning, it's incredibly active, making my belly jump around like I'm cooking popcorn inside.  I can't figure out what makes it move.  It usually dances a bit after I eat and also when I am lying in bed.  But I can't seem to do a Pandora on it... Meaning that I play it music fairly often, but can't get its music tastes just right.  Last week, my mom was here, and she wanted to feel the baby move. So, I pulled out the iPod and played Yellow Sun by The Ranconteurs, and the fetus gave a "thumbs up" in the form of a head butt that was pretty powerful.  Of course, that could have meant that it didn't like it very much.  I don't know.

I've played it all sorts of other music, and some days it digs what I've got on, and other times it's like, "Blah...I've heard better."

Yes, I'm trying to figure out a fetus.  A fetus that weighs about a pound and a half, whose bones are becoming harder, and whose prime source of entertainment is exploring structures in my uterus.

A fav onesie

Yes, I'm neurotic.

Almost 100 Days Left

It's really hard to believe that I'm over halfway through this pregnancy.  Yikes.  This Thursday will mark 25 weeks, and then in a few weeks after that, I'll be in the third trimester.  And I'll get bigger and bigger and bigger...  The baby is well over a pound by now, and it's kicking and punching away like a champ.  I still can't get over how weird that feels, and I love it when Nate puts his hand on my belly and feels it moving around, too.

I'm pretty grateful with how well this is going.  I didn't have morning sickness, no complications thus far, and my husband has been beyond wonderful.  I could do without the leg cramps in the middle of the night, though.  Holy cow.  Those are pure evil.  What's up with those, anyway?  I've had three in the past month, and the most recent one was over Christmas.  That one was so utterly painful that it brought tears to my eyes at some ridiculous hour of the night.  I woke Nate up with my strained breathing, and I was in so much pain that I was practically paralyzed until it passed.  Stretching before bed has been helpful, and I think exercising has its benefits, too.

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.

Does Baby Like Houska?

Thanksgiving is officially over, but my sister flies into Minneapolis/St. Paul this afternoon, and we'll bring her back to my brother's house to complete the guest list.  Then, we'll have our own feast this evening, complete with our Polish/Lithuanian/Czech embellished holiday.  I am responsible for making houska, a sweet bread that I think used to just get made at Easter, but now has become a staple at all of our holidays.  In fact, I need to get up and get that going!  We also make kugelis, which is a potato, onion, and bacon savory cake (to be simplistic about its description) topped with sour cream.

I'm finding I fill up more quickly than I used to, so I'm going to have to sacrifice with small amounts of everything.  Or just draw out the meal over a couple of hours...

The other night, I'm pretty sure I felt the baby move, but I don't want to make any assumptions.  It felt like a little flip that was different than other rumblings and pressure I've felt thus far.  I need a few more of those to be certain about what I'm feeling.

Wordless Wednesday

Midwife Appointment #1

I have a confession.  I ate a Third Pounder with fries from McDonald's tonight.  Nate and I were in a rush to get to our appointment this evening, and we had to opt for something quick to eat.  I accidentally suggested McDonald's, and we went.  I think I've had food from there about three or four times so far this year, and for me, that's three or four times too many.  I quietly told the baby I was sorry for eating that kind of stuff, but that I was hungry, and I would hope that it would understand.

Anyway, it was such a nice feeling to have spent over an hour with LaNette McQuitty, our Certified Professional Midwife, at our first appointment with her.  We were asked three times if we had any questions, and she took the time to answer every one of them.  We got to hear the baby's heartbeat, at a steady 150.  All my levels are good, according to the lovely-colored stick I peed on.  LaNette easily found the top of my uterus, and told me that in the next couple of weeks, I should feel those little flutters that I'm anxiously awaiting!

Charting the Belly

It's Date Night tonight, and Nate said part of it is that he would take a few belly shots before we head over to Rochambo and play cribbage and (hopefully) eat something sweet.  I keep comparing my belly to other people's pictures that they've posted on the Interweb, and I'm feeling inadequate.  Anyway, here are a couple of pictures:

The architect's idea to have the cutting mat as a way to chart the growth...

Yikes!

It's about 4.5 inches long right now.

Let's Move!

No, I'm not referring to moving out of our cramped apartment.  I am talking about wanting to feel the baby move!  Last Thursday, I was at 16 weeks, and according to everything I read, quickening (feeling the baby's first movements) usually happens between 16 and 20 weeks.  It's about the size of an avocado, and it's going to double its weight in the next few weeks.  However, being a first time pregger, I may have wait patiently for its movements until week 20.  LAME.  I have loved hearing women describe their first experience of baby's movement.  Here are a few descriptions I've heard from moms I know:

• flutters
• popcorn popping
• flips
• gas (Gert?)
• a light touch
• butterflies

The avocado
(taken from babycenter.com)

With all the craziness that happened last month with the loss of my dad, I never scheduled a three-month prenatal appointment.  Oops.  We do have a four-month appointment with our midwife this Tuesday evening.  I love the fact that we can have evening appointments with her, and Nate doesn't have to miss school, and I don't have to take sick time!

Week 15

My mother-in-law and her husband came to visit this weekend, and she really can't wait until Christmas!  I've been an amateur knitter for about eight years, and she got me a book of baby patterns and a few skeins of baby yarn.  It's been awhile since I've knit, so I started a very easy baby blanket with some guidance from my mom.  I'm so good at starting knitting projects and then abandoning them, and I hope that's not true for this one!

On Saturday, we went to Boerner Botanical Gardens and took a bunch of pictures, some of which were my first belly shots.

Grandma Becca rubs my belly for good luck

I'm still convinced that it's all just chub that's been pushed up and out of my abdomen.  That, plus bloating.  I can sometimes feel the top of my uterus, but it hasn't pushed itself out of my abdominal cavity quite yet.  However, I'm definitely rocking maternity pants and the BellaBand.

We also had some conversations about names this weekend...I am fairly certain we've decided on a last name.  Nate's is hyphenated, and we're going to take his C.-G. and combine it into one name: CG.  But, what do I do when Nate and I disagree about first names??  I know, we've got time to figure it out.

Physically, I'm alright, but I'm pretty sure I'm experiencing round ligament pain.  It's a pretty weird sensation, like a dull ache in my right groin.  It's been more frequent lately.  In weeks four and five, I had a super sharp pain in the same area when I would sneeze, but it would only last 5-10 seconds.  I thought I was going to sneeze the little zygote right out back in August.  Anyway, that's since gone away, but replaced by this intermittent pain I now feel.

Oh, and the other symptom I'm experiencing required me to go out and by some Citrucel at Walgreens.  It's got SmartFiber, which is apparently supposed to "give me the fiber I need, without the fiber effects I don't want."  Awesome.