Top Pregnancy Something-or-Others

I'm not sure what this list is exactly, other than some of the unexpected things I've experienced as a direct result of having a bun in the oven.

1. Peeing during the third trimester is ridiculous.  The urge to go is very immediate as of late, but the outcome is like, "Really?  That's it?"  And then I have to go again in about 15 minutes.
2. Tying my shoes makes me grateful for slip-ons.  At the gym, I have to take a rest between putting on the sock and then the shoe.  My lungs are getting squished.
3. "How are you feeling?"  It took me awhile to get used to this question from others because I liken it to a question that would be asked of someone who just got over the flu, or who's currently sick.  I'm never really sure how to answer this, other than to say, "I'm good...just getting big."
4. People are always looking at my belly.  I do it to other pregnant women, too, but it's just different when I'm the one whose belly is growing.
5. Waking up at some crazy hour of the night by the foot of my fetus banging out a rhythm on my ribs.
6. Grunting.  I grunt getting in the car and getting out of the car.  I grunt trying to get out of bed.  I grunt tying my shoes.  I grunt trying to pick something up off the floor that I've dropped.
7. Two-hour naps.  I am tired!  I don't sleep through the night anymore, and sometimes I'm up for quite some time at 3am.  The best part is that I can still go to bed at 9pm after sleeping from 4-6pm.
8. I weigh more than my husband.  'Nuff said.

I Think I'm having a Contraction...

I'm fairly certain that I had one of those Braxton-Hicks contractions tonight.  These are those false contractions where the uterus tightens up in preparation for labor, which, dear reader, is just over two months away!  Yikes.  Anyway, I felt this pressure in my belly, and when I touched it, my protruding gut was rock hard.  It didn't hurt, but I certainly noticed it.  It relaxed after about a minute.  My mom said that she used to get painful ones with my sister and I that would stop her in her tracks.


As an aside, she also said that she would sit on the steps of our patio when she was pregnant with me (and then later with Mary) and cry because she was so fat.  We made our mom pile on 60+ pounds each time, most of which was water weight.  I think our older brothers were much easier for her.


Birthing class #2 was pretty exciting, mostly because there were two women in labor while our class was going on.  One gave birth right as class started, and the other woman was audible throughout class.  The looks on the faces of the dads was priceless.  I'm not sure when she delivered.  I could certainly feel the energy!  The night before was a full moon, too...


We talked quite a bit about exercise and many of the benefits of keeping up with exercise during pregnancy.  There are all sorts of statistics about the benefits to both the mom and the fetus.  I found all the myths that we discussed rather interesting.  Here are a few:

MYTH: Pregnant women should not exercise more than three times per week.

TRUTH: Following a doctor’s approval, it’s recommended that pregnant women engage in 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily, five or more times a week.

MYTH: Pregnant women must keep their heart rate under 140 beats per minute during exercise.

TRUTH: Instead of counting beats per minute, use the Borg Scale (measures perceived exertion) or a simple talk test to assess intensity.

I currently swim once a week, use the elliptical machine about 2-3 times a week, and take a weight training class twice a week (Power Flex).  Oh yeah, and my homework was 200 Kegels a day for the next week.  So exciting...

Birthing Class #1

We made the trip up to Menomonee Falls Well Rounded Maternity Center Saturday morning for our first birthing class.  Our instructor, Coral Slavin, is a seasoned Bradley Method instructor, but has since modified the class because the true Bradley course was too rigid for her tastes.  So she created a hybrid class.  There were about seven other couples there, all of us first time parents except for one couple.  We talked quite a bit about the importance of relaxing during labor so that the body can do its job.  Next week's topic is about diet and nutrition.

I also had my 30 week appointment this afternoon at the Midwifery Center at Aurora Sinai.  Things are good...baby's heart rate is 142 and my fundal height is 30 cm (right on target).  My blood work from last time showed that I'm not producing any antibodies, and I think that means that Mr. Belvedere and I have compatible blood, but that conversation was too much for me to follow.  I'll put that on my list of questions for next time.

Fundal height--things are getting cramped

It's hard to believe that there are just ten weeks left (give or take a few).  It's gone by very quickly so far, but I've heard from others that this last trimester can get long...

Charting the Belly: Week 28 (almost 29)

I just got done watching the first episode of One Born Every Minute and I was...appalled?   Discouraged?  Mildly amused?  I also feel like I know the woman who was having a natural childbirth.  I did go to Ohio State, the show is filmed at Riverside Methodist Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, and she and I are the same age.


I'm feeling pretty good so far, other than a few aches here and there.  My left hip is tight, and rolling over in bed is a pretty big ordeal every night around 4am.  I'm hoping to make an appointment for a prenatal massage sometime in the next week.  Valentine's Day is around the corner, Nate...

Bruce Lee and me

Beginning of the third trimester!

End of the Second Trimester

I had my glucose tolerance test last Tuesday at my appointment, and I was pretty sure I wasn't going to pass it.  I don't know why I had that feeling, but as it turns out, I'm in the clear.  I got a 93, which falls well below the recommended 140 mg/dL.  I picked the fruit punch flavor, mostly because I was told the orange was the nastiest.  It wasn't that bad, except that after about ten minutes, I felt pretty gross, like I had just eaten a half-dozen donuts.  I got a little shaky, and when it was time to draw blood, my hands were super sweaty.  I think the MA thought I was going to pass out as she was drawing my blood.

In two weeks, we start the Bradley Method classes at the Maternity Center up in Menomonee Falls.  It's a 2-1/2 hour class that lasts 8 weeks.  I'm hoping that it will give us some good information about having a natural childbirth (no drugs) and the process of labor and delivery.  In turn, when it comes time to making a birth plan, we'll have more knowledge than what we've got right now.

Oh, the Dreams...

Last night, I very vividly dreamed that I was throwing up.  It was so real that as I woke up from the dream, I did it ever-so-cautiously because I didn't want to barf all over the bed.  I've only puked four times in my life, and I couldn't believe how much last night felt like I had just barfed in my mouth.

Then, I had another dream that the baby's foot was protruding out of my belly and I couldn't get it back in my belly.  It looked exactly like this picture, except I wasn't blue:

By the way, do you think this picture is real?

Photoshop fun or really sweet picture?

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.