Excited & Other after midnight musings.

So between 11:55pm and 12:20am, I had to get up out of bed no less than THREE times to pee. By that point, I was pretty awake - and Alex, who has his first day at a new job tomorrow, was peacefully sleeping. So - I came out to the living room thinking I would read a little bit, and hopefully get back to sleepy soon.

Then the thought occurred to me how excited I am to have this space where I can share all of the wacky parts of this pregnancy with you! Since we moved here to work on our degrees, we don't live near family, and we live near a few friends, but certainly not all... And I know that several of you - from your emails and comments - like to hear about my crazy Oatmeal Creme Pie cravings, and my incessant potty breaks. And without this blog as a medium, I can't think of how you'd get to know about that. It's the minutae, the little things, the day in and day out "boring" stuff that don't get mentioned in casual conversation, but that I will post on here that make this more of a shared experience, and less of a long-distance "aquaintance" pregnancy. (as in: someone I know, who lives far away is pregnant and having the baby sometime in January. but that's all I know). Now, through the magic of the internet - you get to know when the doctor's appointments are, and you get to see the ultra sound pictures. And Alex and I get so much joy out of sharing these moments with you!

Anyway - all of that is to say, thank you for reading this blog and for participating in this exciting stage in our lives! We are so excited to be bringing little Sprout into this world full of people who already love him or her! And I am feeling most excited that we can share so much of that with you!

Believe it or not, it's 12:34am, and I have to pee again, so I'm going to sign off. If you've been thinking of investing in the stock market... Charmin would be a great bet. ;)

- mama g

e-l-e-v-e-n

Eleven weeks.

We are almost out of the first trimester.

I'm feeling less sluggish, and I'm thankful for that. I am going to the bathroom a lot more - but that makes sense since Sprout is now 2 inches long - two times bigger than two weeks ago. I'm guessing the pressure on my bladder is impressive.

Yesterday, Alex and I went swimming for some exercise. I don't want to overdo anything,
since I am still in the 1st trimester. I guess you could say I'm being overly cautious - but I'm comfortable with that. So - we got some little kickboards, and we swam a little bit in the lanes. Only for about 20 or 30 minutes - and certainly nothing strenuous... But it was fun, relaxing, and exercise all rolled into one.

Also - I found a prenatal yoga class that I am going to take when it starts at the end of July. It's called "Mamaste Yoga", how cute is that??? It's specifically for women in their 2nd and 3rd trimesters. So it will be perfect for me.

- mama g

Ten weeks

We are now ten weeks along. Just another 2 weeks before we're out of the danger zone and into a legitimate pregnancy.

I am not worried anymore, though. I feel like everything is going very well with this pregnancy - and I can see no reason why it won't keep going very well.

We have another ultra sound scheduled July 6th (coming up very soon!) and I'm excited to see Sprout's progress. I know it will be a huge difference from the first ultra sound - and seeing that growth in black and white helps justify how tired I've been.

Last weekend, I drove to Tulsa and then to Joplin for my niece's 1st birthday party. The drive to Tulsa (about 2 hours) has been effortless and boring for me most of my life. Now - it is a race to each rest stop so I can empty my poor overworked bladder. I used to make the whole trip without HAVING to stop - and if I did stop, I often would just get a drink or a snack, and get back on the road. Now - I stop at EVERY available rest stop. (And, on the turnpike - there are only 2, so it's really a tough drive for a pregnant woman)

I was also surprised at how tired I was during the drive. I hope this mythic 2nd trimester where I have all this energy - and I stop having to take bathroom breaks at least once an hour is all it's been advertised to be! Cause I could use the energy and the break from the bathroom breaks.

For now, I think I'll avoid the turnpike if possible and stick to less than 30 minutes in the car at a time.

Crave

I realized a couple of days ago that before I knew I was pregnant - I did have a ridiculously strong craving. I wanted grilled onions in mass quantity. What's funny about this is that I used to be a person who hated onions with a passion. I've only recently started to appreciate them. But for about 2 weeks when I was just dividing cells - I wanted as much grilled onion as I could handle (which was, I'm sad to say, an ungodly amount).

Fast forward to this week - I asked Alex what he supposed made a pregnancy craving different from "hmm... this sure sounds good". We agreed it must be the length of the craving + the strength of it.

So, folks... I have a recurring craving that I have indulged this week... OATMEAL CREME PIES!! I'm only allowing myself 1 each day so far. And so far, that has gotten the craving to subside for 24 hours. But I made the grave mistake of looking at the nutritional information on the package - and YIKE! Those things are horrible!! So - I decided to make some homemade oatmeal creme pies so I can have my treat - and not drown in saturated fats, preservatives, and refined carbohydrates.

Today and tomorrow, among the various and sundry other baked goods I'll be making in preparation for a big weekend spent with family, I am going to make my own oatmeal creme pies.

Oh, Sprout... Your friends are going to LOVE to come over to our house!!

5am feedings? Already?

This morning, if Sprout were able to make it happen, I would have awoken to the sound of a baby crying.

Instead - since that is not yet a possibility - I awoke to the strongest and most primal urge to eat. It was a strange feeling, because I have not ever been a person to eat in the middle of the night. But this morning, it was clear that I would not be able to simply roll over and go back to sleep, ignoring the minor rumbly in my tumbly. No. I had to get up and eat. Then, I was graciously allowed to go back to sleep for a couple of hours.

I even ate my protein snack just before bed like WTE says I need to. But - since Sprout is supposed to nearly double in size over the next two weeks (from about an inch to about 2 inches in length) - I guess that's just going to take some more fuel. In fact... Although I had a banana about 15 minutes ago, I am thinking I'm going to have to head back into the kitchen in search of something a bit more substantial and protein-y.

mama out (to the kitchen)

Growth Sprout

I think there has been all manner of growing happening with Sprout the last 24 hours. One reason I think so, is that I have been a little dizzy - so I have to be careful getting up out of bed, or after sitting for a while. And two - because I am (yet again) PROFOUNDLY exhausted. Yesterday, we went to meet Marmee for lunch in OKC, and I couldn't even stay awake on the ride home. I proceeded to come into the house and take a 3 hour and 15 minute nap. And it was no cat nap, folks. This was a full-out, in my jammies, in the bed, slept so hard I didn't even dream kind of situation. The sad thing is, I could have (and wanted to) slept longer, but I had class last night. When I got home from class, I was in bed within an hour and a half - and I slept almost 12 hours. I've only been awake about an hour so far today, but I already feel a nap coming on at some point in the not too distant future.

I am just so thankful that I don't have a full time job to contend with during all this pregnant sleepiness. I can't imagine how tired I would be if I didn't have the luxury of napping when I needed to.

For every friend who has sympathized with me, there has been another who has pointed out that there are women whose lives do not change during pregnancy, or even during labor - they just squat out in the field, give birth, and keep on working. To those women, I say - more power to you, and then I say, THANK GOD I DON'T HAVE TO DO THAT! Give me air conditioning, a comfy bed, and when the time comes - as controversial as it may be... I'll take the epidural, please. :)

I will not post things I'd really like people to buy...

Seriously, it's tacky.

I look creepy in goggles.

Today I did several things. I emailed about a zillion people interesting things I found on the series of tubes. I emailed my Grandmother in all caps (her eyes are failing, but I still feel like I am screaming, O'Reilly-style whenever I email her). But, most important, I went to the gym.

It's been nagging at me for several days, this lack of working out. I've managed to get a new high score in the 'How much do you weigh now, fat-ass?' game. That has not been enough motivation to hit the gym on a regular basis though. Even seeing a good friend, who has managed through grit and deterimintation to really slim down and buff up did not do the trick. Going to Target earlier this week did.

Walking in ahead of us was a couple with a small child in a car carrier thingy. Watching this guy carry his kid around made my head spin. Doing some quick math (6-9 pounds when born, add in some fat and muscle and poop, plus the car seat thing) I came to the conclusion that the guy could be lugging around up to 20-30 pounds of baby and seat. I can barely walk around the house with my 8 pound weights. I think they're in the exact spot they were after I brought them home from the store.

So I hit the gym today. And I'll do the same tomorrow. And Saturday.

I took a picture of myself in the car after the fact. Since right now there are good pictures on the blog I'll not blemish it with my fat head trying not to cry.

Maybe next week.

-x

Introducing......

baby sprout!!!


from our first ultra sound June 10, 2009 at eight weeks.

We have a heartbeat, ladies & gentlemen!

We had our first ultra sound this morning. It was amazing. No sooner did the lady gelly-up the little roller wand, and place it on my belly - did we have a baby, and a heartbeat!

It took my breath away. The heartbeat was fast and sounded strong, and our little sprout measured in at 18cm from the top of the head to the little nobby thing that will soon be the foot!

The ultra sound lady said everything looks perfect, and we are scheduled for another one July 6th.

I am SO relieved, and am finally letting it sink in that I'm a mommy!

Due date: January 17, 2010

Today, I feel so lucky, SO happy, and so blessed.

I will post the ultra sound pics soon!

Doctor Vist? More like Awkward Visit!

I blame the three times I had to get stuck this morning to try to draw blood for the lame-ness of the title of this post.

We went to the OB yesterday, and spent an hour hanging out in the waiting room. It was odd seeing some really super pregnant women hanging out in a room.

Once we got back the appointment went well. We could not hear a heartbeat yet, but we did get to hear Amber's heartbeat, which was rather neat. Then Amber got to put on her pink gown and wait for the doctor.

He seems nice, very matter of fact about everything. Took time to ask if we had an questions, and talked about what was coming up. We're roughly 8 weeks in, and will have an ultrasound next week. Blood tests and other tests were today (including the above mentioned thrice stuck blood test for me. Here's hoping my cholesterol and other random things are still good).

Amber is tired more this week. But we have no real plans this weekend aside from hanging out with some friends and relaxing.

I bought some books today to read to Amber and Sprout. Some Young Adult fiction stuff that I hope they both will like. I had started reading Grimm's Fairy Tales, but it was 1. hard to read and 2. just not very interesting. Perhaps Aesop at some point? Or maybe we'll stick with more recent stuff. I'll post small reviews I'm sure.

Still having a hard time trying to nail down a drawing of the sprout. Though I did come up with a rough sketch of Amber the other night. We'll see if that manages to get posted on the Intertubes.

-alex.