Birthing Video

I was told by my new midwife that I should watch videos.

Scary thing that...but it makes sense as a preparation tool. But I should NOT watch them alone.

Some of it is gross. Ok...alot of it is gross. Some of it is scary...and for some reason after watching two I couldn't stop crying. I didn't feel sad, afraid, only a little grossed out...but I just kept crying. Odd no?

Next time I'll watch them with someone.

Anyone want to watch scary grossness with me? =\

My New Birth Center

Today (I am officially 14 weeks btw) I went to the Heart 2 Heart Birth Center.

Oh My GOD! I love it so so so so so so so so much!

The place is antique fancy, kinda old English meets vintage American. There is a spa and a tea room with a courtyard filled with fancy tables and yummy smelling flowers. Just gorgeous.

The midwife, Michelle, is sassy, funny, opinionated, and super nice. We are totally on the same page about many things, and she told me a few things that surprised me. I still need to do research on it, so I'll get into that later.

Also, as much as she is into natural foods and healthy goodness, she did not make me feel bad for how I have been eating, and when I expressed my worry about my nutrition she said that our bodies are built to protect the baby, so I should not worry, but as soon as I am feeling 100% I need to cut out the processed crap...I so agree!

It was just an awesome experience and I am very excited.

I made the switch =D

Predicting Gender

More for fun than anything else really...but here are the predictions...

According to old wives' tales it is a girl
According to the BabyZone gender predicter it is a girl
Accroding to the chinese gender chart it is a boy (but I should be a boy too according to that chart...and I am pretty certain that is not the case)
Madame Z has predicted a girl 3 times and a boy twice...and twice a 14lb baby...I am not pleased with that prediction at all! LOL*
Intelligender says it is a boy
Drew thinks it's a boy, my mom thinks it's a girl
I have no idea

We will hopefully get to see in about 7 weeks. Keep your fingers crossed - at this point, especially seeing how sqirmy the little one is, I just hope it will let us see what it is...either way...

4D Ultrasounds

So, I got my first taste of superior technology for babies, aka the 4D ultrasound. I heard the name, and thought, "4D, how dumb of a name, if it doesn't exist for any period of time, it's only 3D!" Little did I know that you could actually make a recording of it, thereby making it 4D, nor did I realize how redonkulously crystal clear some of the images could be! I was truly flabbergasted as I caught sight of my little child....*letting that sink in*....squirming around, covering it's face, moving, breathing.....*letting THAT sink in*.....just wow.

The Baby Expo and Pictures!

he expo was a whole lot of fun! There were a bunch of really neat vendors - many of whom are moms who started their own business - cool! Sadly I did not win any prizes - but I did get to be on video! My mini interview will be on the Smart baby Expo website! Pretty cool huh?

Also! I got a mini 4D ultra sound session! With pics of course!!! It is too early too see the gender - but we got a few cute shots of the baby. And can I just say the baby is a squirmy little thing! 

And just for fun we bought an Intelligender kit. Cuz why the hell not. I'll be taking it tomorrow morning. It'll be fun to see if the results are accurate or not. Only 7 weeks until we find out for sure! (As long as my squirmy little bean cooperates! LOL*)

The Belly 13 Weeks

I don't think there is much of a change here from 11 weeks. Drew thinks my belly is a teeny bit bigger...If there is a change it is marginal. But I wanted to keep up with the every other week belly pics =)

13 Weeks!

I wanted to say "Yey! I've reached the second trimester!" But now I am all confused about this again. Some places I read say that I am now in my second trimester, and some say I won't be until 14 weeks! Well which is it!?
But you know... since most of them say the second trimester begins now - I'm going to go with that! =)

I've come to realize that the first three months where you don't show (or hardly show) are needed to come to terms with the huge life change. Whether it is something that was planned or not.

I've read so many books...but they leave important things out. Things like...you may not be as excited as you think you should be, or thought you would be...and that is OK! You may just feel weird. Not bad or really good...just some kind of nondescript weirdness. You will at least tear up when you hear your baby's heartbeat, but it may not be earth shattering until the 10th time you hear it. And that is OK! You will need to learn to laugh at the weirdness, the food aversions and cravings, and the mood swings (after you apologize to the person you just decapitated with your words)...
And most importantly...you may discover that despite all your good intentions to be "perfect" and ingest only the healthiest of foods and drink your special tea everyday...and remember your vitamin every day...you probably won't...and THAT IS OK!
Way before there were nutritional guidelines, prenatal vitamins, and prenatal yoga...there were woman drinking mead, whiskey, and or wine daily, eating nothing but bread and meat...it is called the dark ages...and what followed? The Renaissance! SO those babies obviously turned out just fine.

And now that I am entering into my next phase of this pregnancy journey, I am a bit nervous, but also quite excited to see what I'll be learning this time.

I have also come to realize that while I still have doubts and fears...
I am really falling head over heels for this little thing inside me.

Angel Sounds

Our AngelSounds fetal heart doppler came in the mail today! It took us a bit to find the heartbeat (we were aiming too high) but we finally found it! It is so so so cool to be able to hear it whenever we want to! It was also very cool to be able to record it and send it to people!!!

I wanted to attach the file here but I simply could not figure out how this could be done. Oh well. 

I just wish everyone could hear it. It is SO awesome!!!

<3

Almost there!

Today marks 12 weeks! Some people consider this the end of the first trimester, but Drew and I agree that I've not entered the 2nd trimester until 13 weeks. So I am almost there! I can only hope my all day sickness starts to go away. I have heard from a few people, my mother included, that eventhough the queaziness did pretty much leave (note the "pretty much" here) the food aversions sometimes stay. *sigh* I have this feeling it will be a while before I am a veggie girl again.

I am super excited about some recent purchases. I am still giddily waiting on the Earth Mama Angel Baby order to arrive. But now I am slo waiting on my Angelsounds Fetal Heart Doppler to come in the mail, as well as a few cute n sassy pregnancy t-shirts. YEY!

I may not be able to relax a whole lot with everything that is going on right now (i.e. moving, senior project, moving...moving...) but I am certainly enjoying my pregnancy as much as I can (when I'm not super queasy)

Are you really going to eat THAT!?

I have recently learned a very important lesson. Do not judge a pregnant woman for what she eats (unless she is eating something harmful, like glass or something).

I used to judge. I knew one woman who ate McDonalds just about everyday she was pregnant. Surprisingly she didn't gain a huge amount of weight. But I was shocked. "How could she do that!? This is the time she should be eating as healthy as possible!"

That is true. Everyone says it. It is written in all the books. And it is a beautiful thought. But things don't always work out that way.

My plan was to have an almost vegan pregnancy. You can't get much healthier than that! Life had a much different idea, and I am certain a bit of a giggle over it all. 

I am eating food I have not eaten for years. It may shock you - Lean pockets, hamburger helper, ravioli, surgary treats, carbs carbs carbs, pickles galore, juice, and yes...sometimes even McDonalds.

I do try to make the best choices I can. But there is only so healthy you can get with these processed classics.  Oh and did I mention...the only veggies I can really eat are tomatoes, raw carrots and radishes. That's it!

So much for my glorious plans of being a nutritionally amazing goddessey incubator. 

Now I understand...A pregnant woman needs to eat WHATEVER SHE CAN! And try to make the best choices possible with the food cards she is dealt.

I don't get upset though when people who have never been pregnant say to me "Are you sure you should eat that?" or "Are you really going to eat THAT!?" I simply smile and nod and think to myself "Oh, you'll understand one day..."

Am I sad that I am not eating as healthy as I should? Of course...but I can either embrace it and do my best, or stress about it endlessly and do myself and my little bean no good at all. I must add though - thank God for prenatal vitamins! Seriously!

The thing is - the baby is going take whatever it needs. If I don't have enough of it for myself, I will likely start craving the food that has it in order to replenish. A woman's body is an amazing thing. It knows what needs to be done. 

So while I do wish I was a smorgasbord of nutritional awesomeness...I am not worried about my baby getting everything it needs. It will. It is.

So Soft and Sweet

I dreamed of you years ago
So soft and sweet
I was too young to understand what it would mean
I'm glad you waited
Still, I hoped for you
So soft and sweet
Finally I was ready
But you were nowhere to be seen
I thought I lost you
So I began to change my dreams
I began to wish for other things
And my life changed
I changed
But then one day…
Oopsy daisy, there's a baby
So soft and sweet

Daddy D!

I love my wifey Sandi so much, and through no fault of my own, she went and got pregnant (J/k hunnie). I am now doubly lucky and doubly loved because now I have two people loving me. I heard the heartbeat a little while ago for the first time and it was amazing. To know, without a doubt, that there was really a little person inside my Sandi was just shocking and amazing all at the same time. I'm just extremely gushy and happy and scared and excited!

I love you Sandi and baby too!

So we can compare

Since I now need to start taking pictures in maternity clothing - here are some belly pics as I am now, at 11 weeks, in the clothes I'll be wearing until they no longer fit. =) I do like these pictures! It looks more like a bump than fat =D

The Ever-growing Belly - 11 Weeks

It is official - The belly has expanded beyond the pants. I have been wearing maternity pants for a few weeks now, but my regular jeans, though VERY snug and uncomfortable, still fit. Not anymore!

I think at this point the belly is noticeably larger. Also, my waist is very gone. I know there is a baby growing in there...but I feel very fat.

11 Weeks

I am officially 11 weeks! 

I have not been feeling very good the last two days. Here I was reading that "morning sickness" starts getting better gradually, and mine seems to be getting a bit worse. Not cool =(

Other than that - things are going well.

I even wrote a cute baby poem, and ended up sharing it at a poetry reading at school today. I'll have to post it later because I left the final draft at the school.

I have been insanely moody. And really I was a teeny bit emotional and moody before being pregnant...now I am sometimes just appalled at my roller-coaster of emotions. But I try to take a deep breath when I get really upset and remind myself that it is not as bad as it seems, even if it FEELS bad. That usually helps a bit. But my poor husband...

In fun happy news, my mom bought me a wonderful pregnancy body pillow and some pamper me stuff from Earth Mama Angel Baby. I can't wait for that to arrive!  And I just discovered the website offers a registry! I'll be playing with that this evening =D

My Checkup

Had my second ever prenatal appointment today. It went well. I found out I am A- which means I am RH- so we will be finding out what Drew's bloodtype is. It would be great if he is negative too, because then there are no issues. Though, when I told my mom this she said "No, you are A+" So I went and got my blood re-drawn and should have the results back on that by the end of this week. 

Everything else was normal which is great! 

Drew got to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time. He was very excited! =) We will get to hear it every appointment now.

The midwife also said that my uterus is expanding just as it should be.

We  got a tour of the birthing area of the birth center. The lady who gave us the tour was super nice and full of awesome information. She did two water births so she had alot to say about that. One of the rooms is called the VanGough room and I heart it very much!

Everyone we have met so far at the birth center is so very wonderfully nice! Really, the only turn off for me is the other clientele. Ghetto meets Country. I may sound a bit snobby...but trust me, if you saw these people you would totally understand.

I am still going to tour the hospital and the other birth center, just so I know the choice I make really is the best. But, I really love the place I am at now. It's just a shame that in a couple of months we will no longer be right down the road from them. 

And may I just add - Medicaid rocks my world!

Body Woes

I really didn't think I would be bothered by the body changes. Having been quite overweight I figured "been there done that". But here I am, freaking out just a teeny bit over my weight. I worked very hard to lose weight. I lost around 50lbs and I am terrified of gaining it back!

I'm still not a thin person by any means, but I was starting to look and feel pretty good...and now my waist is disappearing, the fat belly is reappearing. Sometimes I look in the mirror and my face looks the same, sometimes it looks as if I am putting weight on. But the scale swears to me that I have only gained that 1lb I am supposed to gain (it fluctuates of course but averages out to 1lb)

I feel HUGE and gross. I need to get over it, I know this. But how? I really don't want to be gross and fat. I want to be a beautiful pregnant goddess...not a big slob where people say "Is she pregnant or just getting fat again?"

It doesn't help that I really am not eating as healthy as I would like - simply because I can't. More on this in another post...

A friend of mine asked me what it is like to be pregnant. So far it is weird. I have these moments where I think "Oh my GOD I am really pregnant, there is this little person growing in me!" and moments where I feel so tired and yucky I don't think much about anything. I think as I get further in, it'll become a little less weird and a little more exciting - especially if I can get past the body issue. I do occasionally get the sense that my body really is not my own right now - and that in itself is a very odd feeling.

10 Weeks down, 30 to go!

I am 10 weeks now...wow! Only about 3 more weeks of the first trimester...wow it goes by kinda fast!

I sent Drew on his first pregnancy craving errand today. You see, when I see or hear about a food that doesn't disgust me I begin to crave it insanely...it began with a Shamrock Shake, then moved on to avocado eggrolls...and now peanut butter eggs...

So off my wonderful husband went to bring back peanut butter eggs and the perfect accompaniment - ice cream =D

I told one of my co-workers today and he was so excited. He even did a little dance. That was pretty cool =)

I told two more close friends. One was thrilled! The other...well...she has not said much since then. I am thinking she probably just needs some time to process the information. That is something I can definitely understand.