rms10 | Entries tagged with pregnancy

As many of you have heard, [bugaloo] (short for [untitled 2: electric boogaloo] -- I spelled it wrong originally and it stuck) is a boy! We're very excited, mostly because now we can CLEAN OUT THE BASEMENT and go through all of S's baby clothes.
My first thought when I saw that fetus penis was, "Oh, hell no, I am not cleaning toilets with three boys in this house." (I clean the bathrooms and E cleans the kitchen, mostly because E can't clean the bathrooms to my standard, and I can't clean the kitchen to his.)
Explaining to S that we know the baby is a boy, but that the baby isn't here yet, is a bit trickier than I thought it would be.
When I was younger, I thought a lot about what girls need in order to be confident and feminist in this world. Now, though, I'm excited that we have the chance to raise well-rounded, confident, feminist boys in this world.
This morning, I told S that today we were going to find out if the baby was going to be a boy or a girl. He responded, clear as could be, "Maybe it's a goy!" His first wordplay! That's definitely the first time I've heard him combine two words like that to make a new one and/or to be funny. Plus, there's the added bonus of the unintentional multi-lingual pun, as S and [bugaloo] and I are all in fact goyim. I am very excited about this major milestone!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Current Mood: happy
Current Location: home

Things here are going well!

As many of you have heard on other social media platforms, I'm pregnant! 12 weeks along (due in early November). The queasiness has been manageable (hooray for ginger ale and crackers); the fatigue has not.
Three of my cousins are pregnant right now, too, with due dates in June, August, and September. The family reunion in 2013 is going to be so much fun.
We are going to find out the sex, if only to make it easier to explain to S. But neither E nor I has a preference, and I was kind of delighted that E said it was "trivial". The values we want to instill in our kids are independent of gender. (Also, we are both of the opinion that birth order factors into personality more than gender does.)
I started reading the Norse mythology in Bulfinch's, as preparation for our trip to Norway. My brother had warned me that it was depressing. I'm not sure I'd call it depressing, just . . . does Thor do anything other than go around and bash giants on the head with his hammer? Eh, I'll read some more on the next rainy night.
On a political note, I am delighted that a ballot initiative to overturn the death penalty in California has made it onto the November 2012 ballot. (As California enacted the death penalty by ballot initiative, it can only be overturned by ballot initiative.) But I don't want to get my hopes up and be disappointed if it fails. Sigh.
And back on a happier note, S remains hilarious and delightful. His current obsession is "yardwork", which he defines as hitting plants with a stick. And when he pretends that we're all in a car, he insists that we all put our seatbelts on. Aw!

Hope you're all having a great week!

Current Mood: happy
Current Location: home
Current Music: S singing to himself in his crib

Sam is nine months old (as of yesterday!), and the past month and a half have been a blast. Sometime in there he's shifted from interacting with us to communicating with us. We have exchanges of blowing raspberries at each other. He'll shake his head back and forth, and get very excited if we do that back at him. He's started high-fiving and waving (next up: the terrorist fist jab), and is starting to understand when to wave. All these exchanges make him very happy.

It's all very cool, because he's not talking, but it seems like these are all ways of us telling each other, "Hello! I am here! You are here! I love you!"

Also, he is properly crawling, although he's still faster at the inchworm method.

He is also still crazy kicking all the time. Here's the most recent video of him kicking, behind the cut:
( kicky Sam! )

Seriously, he is crazy active, as can be seen in all these videos. I guess it's no surprise, as he was always a very wriggly fetus. Maybe, uh, I should cut back on the caffeine?

Right! Life is good! I know I keep saying this, but 9 months is a very fun age.

Current Mood: happy

I was aiming for a natural childbirth, and I came very close to it being all-natural. The whole process was great until the last five minutes, but I wouldn't change anything else.

The executive summary:
17 hours of active labor
3 hours of pushing
1 push with vacuum assistance (this part was not fun)

Sam's stats:
7 lb, 1 oz.
20 inches
Apgar 8 and 9
Posterior, the little bugger!
41w5d gestation. Oy.
Born Friday, October 16, at 10:06 p.m.

( Details, and a cute picture, behind the cut )

Current Mood: happy
Current Location: home

I am delighted to announce that Samuel Harris R was born on Friday, October 16, at 10:06 p.m. 7 lb, 1 oz; 20 inches long; 41 weeks 5 days gestation; 100% adorable. We're all home and settling in just fine. Gory details to come later, but the whole labor process was kind of awesome.

( Pictures below the cut )

Current Mood: happy

Last night, I suddenly got butterflies in my stomach about the whole impending labor/delivery/parenthood thing. And very excited about the prospect of meeting [untitled] soon.

A sign that labor is on the way? Or, more likely, a sign that there's no more football to distract me?

(The Steelers gave me several heart attacks last night, but did not send me into labor, alas.)

Current Mood: impatient, I must admit!

I'm at the point where I have to go to the doctor's weekly, so I've read nearly everything in the waiting room. This means that today I finally picked up a copy of Conceive magazine. I had been avoiding it, because I suspected that it was preying on all the worries of couples with fertility problems. It was even worse than I thought it was, and hell, after reading it I could convince myself that I had fertility problems, despite being 38 weeks pregnant.

Then I switched over to a random issue of Parents (or, Straight White Upper-Middle Class Suburban Stay-at-Home Moms), which I actually would be tempted to subscribe to for the irony factor. An ad for birth control! An ad for beef opposite a page that had a vegetarian recipe! Delightful.

And don't get me started on the Fisher-Price catalog disguised as a magazine for new grandparents. REALLY.

Current Mood: amused
Current Location: home

I'm sure there was a time when I could write transitional paragraphs, but oh, it seems so long ago!

LJ's been pretty quiet lately, and people have offered various hypotheses for why that is. I think one of the reasons is that the LJ site for mobile phones SUCKS. And there is an iPhone app, but it's only good for updating, not for reading your flist.
The eeee! is working on a cosmology calculator app for the iPhone, and maybe when he's done with that I should ask him if he'd be interested in writing a better LJ app.
In our infinite spare time, of course.
My due date is two weeks from TODAY. OMFG.
This morning I realized that although I think I'm ready, if my water broke right now I would freak the fuck out.
Then again, I don't think I'd freak out if I started having regular contractions. So we'll see.
I think this all means I should do some more yoga.

And that's about it here! Off to work on job apps and such before [untitled] arrives!

Current Mood: hopeful
Current Location: home

Things here continue to be hectic. It doesn't help that I'm at 37 weeks, and have no energy anymore, so I have a very lax definition of "hectic". The eeee! only wishes I was nesting, but so far, nothing.

MICHIGAN FOOTBALL! Oh my god. I was cautiously optimistic after they blew out Western Michigan last weekend, and I also thought that Notre Dame was totally overrated this season. But that was such an exciting game, and Michigan actually has a freaking quarterback this season! Hooray! Now we just need a functional pass defense.
Between the Steelers and Michigan, it's been a good football weekend for me. And a really mean part of me is smirking at how bad a football weekend it's been for the state of Ohio. (The end of that Denver-Cinci game was really the nail in the coffin, damn.)
We watched the latest Futurama movie, Into the Wild Green Yonder last night, and eh. We were underwhelmed. The Futurama movies remind me of the last season of Arrested Development -- there are some good bits here and there, but overall they're both rambling messes without a good, coherent storyline. I think the problem is that both shows were wrapped up very well (particularly Futurama, but also the end of season 2 of AD), and the writers underestimated how hard it would be to start up again. (Also see: Mostly Harmless, by Douglas Adams.)
We made our first real trip to Costco for things, and it was only mildly terrifying. I must say, though, we would have joined years ago if we knew they had beer! Good beer! Beer we drink on a regular basis (Newcastle and Firestone), for much cheaper than even the sale prices at the grocery store!

( pregnancy rambling )

Hope you're all having a lovely weekend! Even if you're a fan of Ohio football teams (sorry about that).

Current Mood: calm
Current Location: home
Current Music: "Waiting is the Hardest Part", Tom Petty

I am at 35 weeks now, so it's a good time to start thinking about having some food prepped and frozen before [untitled] gets here, so we are ready for those first few weeks. The problem is that the eeee! and I are stuck on ideas. So far all we can think of is pesto, lentil soup, and homemade black bean burgers.

Any suggestions? We cook mostly Italian, Indian, Thai, and Mexican food, but we're flexible on that. However, we do cook mostly vegetarian food. At most, once a month we get one chicken from the farmer's market to roast or grill (and make stock with). Anything with lentils, chickpeas, black beans, or tofu, though, we can totally handle.

Thanks!

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

I find it fascinating what people have assumed about me during this pregnancy. This includes, but is by no means limited to:

Food cravings. I did not like pickles before I was pregnant, and I do not like them now.
Caffeine consumption. If I turn down a cup of coffee, it's because I do not want one at that specific time (and/or I CANNOT keep up with the Italians). Not because I am pregnant.
Childbirth plans. People I knew back in high school assume I'm getting an epidural. People here assume that I might at least be interested in natural childbirth (and do not treat me like I'm crazy for planning one).
Sex of the child and parenting. Specifically, that the eeee! must be really happy we're having a boy. We were excited to find out either way, and seriously, whether boy or girl, it's going to be the eeee! teaching him or her to make cupcakes.

And it's only going to get worse after he's born? Aieeee.

(Although, to be fair, being pregnant when it's 90 F (32 C) out sucks. I couldn't take the heat before I was pregnant, and now, ugh.)

Current Mood: annoyed
Current Location: home

At some point, I had decided that 36 weeks was a good time to start buying diapers and wipes, packing the hospital bag, etc.

That's in three weeks. Oh my god! And it's a mere five weeks from now until I hit 38 weeks, which begins the "any day now"* stage of pregnancy! Good thing we finally started setting up the nursery and washing baby clothes and such. And suddenly it seems like we have doctor's appointments and meetings with the doula and childbirth and breastfeeding classes all the time.

In other news . . . let's see. I loved Julie & Julia. (It was only the second movie I saw this year that passed the Bechdel test! Sigh.) I love Jane Lynch, but I wasn't sure about the casting of her as Julia's sister. I finally started reading The Other Queen, by Philippa Gregory, but I'm not enjoying it as much as I have some of her others.

And I'm tired. Guess I have to sleep while I can!

---
* I know that first babies are generally late, but I was born at week 37, which is a stat that people seem to take seriously when considering the odds of when [untitled] will show up. Also, although I'm glad that my doctor is sticking with the October 4 due date, another ultrasound pointed to September 29 as the likely due date. On top of all that, I while I have wacky cycles, a due date of October 4 requires a cycle of unprecedented length -- 40+ days. So I'm taking the under on October 4.

Current Mood: busy
Current Location: home

I am definitely too tired for transitional sentences, so here's what's been going on lately:

I'm tired. Oh my god, am I tired. And it's not the fatigue of the first trimester, which felt a bit like the fatigue you have with the flu. I feel physically exhausted, like after an intense workout. I guess that walking to work with a bowling ball strapped to my chest could be considered an intense workout, so okay.
That aside, the pregnancy is still going smoothly. People tend to only talk about their pregnancy woes and horror stories -- especially online -- and I guess I'm included in that. Anyway. I'm tired but doing very well.
Of course, I think I'm all tough, but then I was reading this diary from the Oregon Trail, la la la, it sounds pretty arduous, la la la. And I get to the end, and she gave birth five days after they arrived in Oregon. OH MY GOD. I am so not tough.
We've been so busy with traveling and cleaning out the garage and working that I haven't taken any pictures in a MONTH. It is driving me crazy, since I really want to do an alphabet project. Preferably before [untitled] arrives. But at this point I'm so tired that part of me is like, screw it, it can wait until he's old enough to read.
Okay, on a non-pregnancy note, we saw Public Enemies last week. I'd really been looking forward to it, so maybe that's why I was so disappointed in it. I'm glad that it introduced me to the music of Otis Taylor, but other than that, eh.

Right. That's about it here. Oh god, I totally am a boring pregnant woman. Um. I finally upgraded to Leopard? I'm enjoying Howard's End? I'm . . . going to bed soon.

Current Mood: one guess, people
Current Location: home

The combination of travel and the third trimester of pregnancy has hit me like a ton of bricks. I got home on Tuesday, and it's only today that I'm starting to feel normal again.

My to-do list is a mile long, and I haven't crossed anything off of it. However, we bought a car yesterday, so there's that. And we joined Costco -- man, the eeee! turned 35 and suddenly we're buying 4-door cars and joining warehouse clubs.

Anyway. Work-wise, the trip went very well. I also have some pictures from Italy that, at the rate I'm going, will be online in another three weeks. (I only just finished posting pictures from the June trip to Denmark and London.)

And now I need a nap from my very strenuous morning of, like, eating breakfast and straightening up.

Current Mood: exhausted
Current Location: home
Current Music: British Open

Things here have been pretty good! I will enumerate, because transitional sentences are too complicated for me today.

Friends threw me a small graduation party/baby shower this weekend at the beach! It's been overcast, but the sun did come out for a few hours, and it was lovely. Lots of tasty food -- the eeee! wowed everyone with his spicy grilled corn -- and lots of fun. One person got us this navy blue hoodie that has a SHARK embroidered across the front of it, which is totally awesome.
The eeee! and I are incompetent when it comes to grilled chicken -- we burn it, or undercook it, or both. Blah! But we tried the Italian Grilled Chicken in a recent article of Cook's Illustrated, and it was amazing. We might blog about it at some point, but highlights include butterflying the chicken, pressing it on the grill with a hot cast-iron pot (or bricks), and eight cloves of garlic. It came out perfectly, and as we were eating it, we were exclaiming, "We could actually make this for a guest!"
I will actually need to buy maternity clothes soon, because while my low-rise jeans still fit (especially the sexiest ones, which is kind of hilarious), my skirts are getting tighter and tighter. This means I have to buy stuff before I leave for Europe, ack. But! I have a gift card for the Gap (graduation present from my brother), and a 25% off coupon. So I am about to go crazy online.
When I go to Italy in July, I get into the Venice airport at 9 a.m., but my shuttle to the middle of nowhere isn't until 6 p.m. or so. I started doing some research on the Venice airport (awesomely named Marco Polo), and I think I might actually be able to get into Venice for the day. Yay! If any of you have been to Venice, I would deeply appreciate any and all advice about transport to and from the airport, and about Venice itself.
We finally watched the pilot of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency last night, and loved it. We have the whole season recorded, and so far I cannot recommend it enough. It's shot in Botswana, and is so beautiful and funny and interesting. Now I need to read the books -- which will require going to the library, which will require paying my library fine, egad.

Okay, I guess that wasn't all strictly about my weekend. Anyway. Happy Monday! The sun is shining, our new chairs are coming today, and life is good.

Current Mood: happy
Current Location: home
Current Music: birdies chirping outside!

Okay, this time the fire really is over 50% contained! And we've had marine layers rolling in since Friday night, which helps a lot. I've never been so happy to see fog. Our friends' home is okay, although we have their dogs here until Friday (long story). Phew!

And in other news, we found out the sex today -- it's a boy! I'm kind of excited about it being me and this menagerie of boys in the house. How very Jo March of me. I have a younger brother, and the eeee! has an older sister, so we're definitely breaking new ground in terms of sibling dynamics if we have a second kid. Starting from scratch could be a good thing, though.

(I was convinced it was a boy, so I'm also kind of gleeful that I was right.)

Current Mood: happy
Current Location: cool and humid Santa Barbara, hooray!
Current Music: Gregorian chant

The Jesusita Fire is still burning, but the winds last night were calmer than expected. If the winds pick up again tonight, our friends' house will likely be in the path of the fire, which is nerve-wracking. But a lot of progress on the fire has been made -- it's certainly less smoky here than it was yesterday -- so we're crossing our fingers and toes.

So, a few other tentatively good things going on:

We leave a month from today for our trip to Denmark! When we were planning the trip, I had been a bit nervous about how I'd be feeling, since I'll be about 5 months along then. People had told me that the second trimester is a breeze, but that's different than experiencing it myself. Anyway, given how I feel now, I am looking forward to the trip with no hesitation! My energy levels are back to normal, and I don't think I will have trouble maneuvering with my belly, or anything. (My belly is definitely at the point where I'm always conscious of it, and it slightly affects how I sit. But it's not at the point where people will immediately guess that I'm pregnant.)
And oh, my conference in Italy begins two months from today! I am curious as to how I will feel when I am six months pregnant. Whatever. This should be good motivation for actually doing some damn prenatal yoga.
I'm not sure I fully understand the focus of the Trifter website, but an article on Mt. Popa used two of my pictures, with mostly proper attribution. (I have to check Creative Commons to see if my name should be listed there, but I'm generally not bothered as long as there's a link.) Anyway, nifty!
Things might improve for the Penguins now that they're playing at home? Oof.
If you like sports, TV, and smart women talking about those things -- as I know many of you do -- you should listen to Play Ball, my SIL's podcast!

Right, back to work. (What? You mean it didn't end with the defense?)

Current Mood: optimistic
Current Location: less-smoky-than-yesterday Santa Barbara
Current Music: "Slow Show", The National

It's nice to be back home in California!

While we were traveling, we ate out every day for lunch and dinner (obviously). And while it was nice to get food that we can't get here -- specifically, Middle Eastern and Southern Indian -- I get so tired of eating out all the time. We felt like we had to detox, and I was never so happy to have lentils and rice as I was last night. The rest of our menu for the week is meatless and fairly low on dairy.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, after the defense we went to lunch with my parents. There were tons of graduation cards (and gifts) from them and from other family members. Aw! Then, we met them at our hotel before dinner, and they showed up with half a dozen gift bags full of baby stuff. OH MY GOD. Way back when I had told my mom I was pregnant she bought a ton of baby stuff. There were onesies and socks and washcloths and hooded towels and maternity shirts and a baby carrier. Then, while they were in Michigan, they hit up an M-Den and got Michigan shirts (including a onesie with a baby wolverine on it!) and socks and such! The best was a set of Steelers footie pajamas from my brother that had stars on it. Astronomy + Steelers = Win. Kudos, A. We were not expecting any of this, and we were totally blown away by all of it.

I'm now half-rethinking our desire to find out the sex of the child (May 11 is the u/s!). We're very impatient people. But unisex baby clothes with baby animal motifs are so freaking adorable -- much cuter than frilly pink GIRL stuff or butch blue BOY stuff. Well, we can still buy cute unisex clothes even after we know the sex.

We hadn't bought any baby stuff yet, so now it all seems much more real. Like, there's going to be a real live baby wearing these clothes, and we have to take care of it! Eeep!

In other news, I'm still dragging a bit after a week of antibiotics (although at least my ears are no longer bothering me). I hope it's not swine flu.

Current Mood: touched
Current Location: home

It's always strange coming back to a place after you've moved away, and this time feels doubly-strange since we're in a hotel instead of crashing at a friend's. But the hotel gives out a complimentary copy of the Sunday NY Times, and has Washtenaw Dairy donuts at breakfast, so I'm pretty happy.

The eeee! and I were up last night for hours (jetlag!) talking about children's books. We don't get jazzed about baby clothes or nursery stuff, and the whole stroller-carseat thing gives me hives. (It doesn't help that our only car is a two-door, so we're reluctantly coming to terms with the fact that we'll have to replace it.) Nerds that we are, though, we are so pumped about children's books. This started because the eeee! found a couple Ant and Bee books at his parents', which he adored but are now out of print. Children's books morphed into older kids' books, which morphed into comparing notes about when our freakish math skills became apparent.

This poor, poor child that we are bringing into the world.

Right, off to meet friends for breakfast! Happy Sunday!

Current Mood: geeky
Current Location: tree town! not that the trees have leaves yet

My goodness, there's a lot going on here! Let me sum up:

I finished The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, and really enjoyed it. Well, enjoyed might not be quite the right word. It was pretty depressing (tied with Sweetness in the Belly for most depressing read ever). But very engrossing. Now I need to figure out what books to bring to Ann Arbor!
My defense is a week from today, and yes, I've actually started writing the talk.
I've also started seriously job-hunting. Blah.
On the plus side, I've been able to play with my new camera. Yay!
Doc has been having weird stomach problems -- refusing to eat sometimes, even -- and we tried re-jiggering his meal schedule. Finally, we took the next step recommended by the vet: Pepcid AC. Yes, people medicine. And one dose has already made a huge difference. He wolfed down his dinner and is peppier than he's been all week. Hooray!
( Pregnancy rambling )

Now, to watch LOST, whee!

Current Mood: busy
Current Location: home

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The Beckyan Deli

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The Reading Journal of RMS

Entries tagged with pregnancy

Five family things!

Delightful news

Non-verbal communication!

The birth story of Sam

Introducing Samuel Harris!

No news is no news

"Educational" reading for parents

Yet another numbered entry!

(no subject)

Frozen food! Really.

People are strange

Calendars are scary . . .

Zonk!

Scattered thoughts

A mostly lovely weekend!

Non-Tentative Good News!

Tentative Good News!

Back home!

Visiting in Town

Oof!