Thursday Tidbits
12 May 2011 Comments Off on Thursday Tidbits
in Uncategorized Tags: 2nd trimester, pregnancy, Working Out
In bullet form:
– I researched online and found a prenatal yoga class (sort of nearby) that sounds good. It’s on Tuesday nights, and since there’s no good TV on that night, I thought I should give it a go. Wish me luck!
– My midwife appt on Tuesday was good. All the normal checks (urine, weight, etc) were good – my blood pressure was high, but that seemed to maybe be a result of too many salty Chuy’s chips on Sunday night, and it was totally back to normal (110/71) when I checked it at home that night, so I’m calling it a fluke. Scott went with me to this visit and we got to hear the heartbeat again…she had a much easier time finding it since my uterus is higher up now. And she could even tell when the baby was moving and flipping around by the way it sounded. Cool! I measured right on schedule for about 15 weeks, and she said that 18 weeks was really the best time to get an ultrasound to find out the baby’s sex. So, just a few more weeks!!
– It’s raining here today. I hardly know what to make of it, it’s been so long since we saw anything even resembling rain. I took a picture from the front porch of my office to prove it.
There's even thunder and lightning!
-My birthday is in only 8 days. I’ll be 33. OLD. I usually take my birthday off from work…I don’t think this year will be any different in that aspect. I’ve already got lunch plans with my friend Kristi for that day, who is so very generously letting me borrow her pregnancy body pillow. I can’t wait to try it out!
14w6d
Weekend Recap
09 May 2011 4 Comments
in Uncategorized Tags: 2nd trimester, Domestic Bliss, Family Fun, Holidays!, Home Improvements
Well, this was a weekend chock full of interesting events. (Also, it is of note that Sunday hit a record high temperature of 98 degrees. This will be important later on.) Being that it was my first ‘honorary’ Mother’s Day, Scott surprised me with 4 (FOUR!) boxes of Bissinger’s chocolate treats. The man knows the way to my heart…and also that he gets to eat half of the goodies, since we always share them equally. He said they weren’t necessarily for Mother’s Day, but maybe a present just because he loves me. Awwww!
Saturday I went to the mall for a bit in the afternoon and thoroughly wore myself out. I am noticing that I’m having a little bit harder time breathing, and since I have been trained (hi mom!) to walk really fast and purposefully in the mall, I noticed that I had to force myself to walk slower so I could breathe a bit easier. I got home and parked myself on the porch with my Kindle to relax for a while. And good thing I relaxed then, because Sunday was not a day of rest.
We got up and pretty much headed straight to Home Depot. Not really my favorite way to start the day, but hey, *I* didn’t have to load 19 (80 lb) bags of concrete into the back of the truck, so who am I to complain? My job was to carry the metal bolts. Sunday was the day for pouring the concrete foundation for the long-awaited, much-anticipated greenhouse! To say the least, I worked hard. Scott, however, worked MUCH harder. Under the blazing sun (see above re: record high temperature) we mixed and poured concrete and Scott placed the anchor bolts, and got it done.
Wood forms before concrete installation.
Close up of concrete and anchors. (Those are the bolts I carried at Home Depot!)
But it was hard, hard work, and unfortunately we were out there right in the prime heat of the day. It was sweaty and filthy work, but nothing a couple of Flavor Ices couldn’t fix.
Right about the time we finished cleaning up and came inside, I spoke to Lisa on the phone, and she said that she was having contractions that were close together and feeling pretty steady and strong. yay! This is it! While Scott and I rewarded all of our hard work with dinner at Chuy’s, Lisa and Josh headed off to the birthing center to have that baby. I kept my phone by me all night, and at 4:45am, I got the text from Josh that said “it’s a girl!” Oh, such relief that everyone was OK, and baby Ada had arrived. (Coincidentally, my eyes popped open about 3:30am and I could not go back to sleep to save my life. 3:30am my time is 1:30 am Portland time, and little Miss Ada was born at 1:26am. My brain must have known that she had just entered the world! At least that’s what I’m telling myself.)
So now I’m an Aunt for the 5th time!! That’s a record that neither Ali or Lisa have. I win!
14w3d
14 weeks!
06 May 2011 2 Comments
in Uncategorized Tags: 2nd trimester, pregnancy
What’s going on this week:
This week’s big developments: Your baby can now squint, frown, grimace, pee, and possibly suck his thumb! Thanks to brain impulses, his facial muscles are getting a workout as his tiny features form one expression after another. His kidneys are producing urine, which he releases into the amniotic fluid around him — a process he’ll keep up until birth. He can grasp, too, and if you’re having an ultrasound now, you may even catch him sucking his thumb.
In other news: Your baby’s stretching out. From head to bottom, he measures 3 1/2 inches — (about the size of a lemon) — and he weighs 1 1/2 ounces. His body’s growing faster than his head, which now sits upon a more distinct neck. By the end of this week, his arms will have grown to a length that’s in proportion to the rest of his body. (His legs still have some lengthening to do.) He’s starting to develop an ultra-fine, downy covering of hair, called lanugo, all over his body. Your baby’s liver starts making bile this week — a sign that it’s doing its job right — and his spleen starts helping in the production of red blood cells. Though you can’t feel his tiny punches and kicks yet, your little pugilist’s hands and feet (which now measure about 1/2 inch long) are more flexible and active.
My Update:
Due Date: November 4, 2011 – 182 days to go!
Weight Gain: +2.4 lbs (from pre-preg weight). One of my books says I will likely gain about 4 lbs total this month. We’ll see!
Symptoms: Not much this week…more twinges and pulls and feelings that I am attributing to things stretching out and growing.
Cravings/Aversions: None, really. Food is sounding better and better, and I am back to more normal portion sizes. I’m going to make an educated guess that this development will have some impact on the “weight gain” category from here on out.
Sleep: Good. No complaints in this department!
I am loving: That my belly is starting to get harder. And definitely more noticeable. And how the ladies in my Pilates class have started touching it and are fawning over it. 🙂
I miss: It seems that it’s every time we eat at Chuy’s that I notice that I really miss a good margarita.
Movement: Not yet.
It’s a: I *still* think it’s a boy. Only about 5 or 6 more weeks till we can find out! Ali and Mom…get your shopping shoes ready!
Exercise: Uhh…I’ve done a couple of workouts on the recumbent bike. And Pilates. Nothing else spectacular.
Diet: Better! We ate all the Easter candy, so that’s done with. Fruit is still sounding good all the time – especially fruit right out of the fridge so it’s nice and cold. I’ve eaten more pineapple in the last few weeks, than probably ever in my life.
(New category I just made up.) Looking forward to: My midwife appt. on Tuesday. I imagine it will be more of the same, (urine sample, talking and pushing around on my stomach) but I get to hear the heartbeat again, and that’s the mot exciting part!
Belly Shot:
14w
One trimester down, 2 more to go!
03 May 2011 2 Comments
in Uncategorized Tags: 2nd trimester, Gearing Up!, pregnancy
So, I’m counting today (13w4d) as the official first day of my second trimester. (40 weeks divided by 3, etc…) It’s going pretty well, I must say! Not much change from the 1st trimester, really, but that’s a good thing, since I’ve had such an easy time with this pregnancy so far.
I’ve started doing some registry research and making a list of things I think we’ll want to register for. Mostly I’m waiting for Lisa to have the Bloob, so she can try out a lot of stuff that I know we are both interested in and give me her yay or nay votes on it all. I’m using her as my own personal Consumer Reports.
We’re lucky, though, in that the room we are planning to use for the baby’s room, is already painted a nice bright yellow, so check one thing off the list as ‘already done’. We’re overachievers! So, it only makes sense that the color scheme will be yellow, with some more gender-specific colors thrown in to pull it all together. So maybe some yellow with brown and blue? Or a little yellow with pink and green? Or yellow with grey and white? So many options! Thankfully we’ve still got plenty of time to narrow it down.
I did make a purchase last week that was just too good to pass up…I knew I wanted some form of baby carrier, and the Ergo has such good reviews online and everyone seems to love it. So when I saw that babysteals was offering it as the daily special for $57, I couldn’t resist! Normally the Ergo Sport carrier is $115, so, yeah…SCORE!
It’s such a cute baby blue color, I won’t mind carting around a boy or a girl in it, especially knowing I got such a deal. You can use this carrier from newborn to toddlerhood, and it works as a front, back and even hip carrier with some small adjustments. I’d like to try to put Madison in it for a test drive, but, you know, I don’t want to get cat hair all over it.
13w4d
