Week 5 (March 8, 2000)
Since this is the week I
began writing, we'll start here. Well, last week
and for about 8-9 days I had HORRIBLE nausea all
day every day (they call it morning sickness, but
mine lasted all day), and then today it just sort
of subsided. I've been good friends with soda
crackers and lemon-lime soda. My nipples are
killing me - talk about tender! But the benefit
is it's a valid excuse to go braless! The nesting
instinct is strong, and I've read there's now a
heartbeat - I cannot wait until my first doctor
visit so I can hear it! The weather in St. Louis
has been unseasonably warm, which makes me want
to go outside and get my hands in the earth -
plant a garden! I'm totally emotional, as well -
no surprise there.
Week 10 (April 9, 2000)
I got to go to my first
doctor's appointment - on the recommendation of
many of his clients, I went to the only doctor in
St. Louis who actually does homebirths. It was
too soon to hear the heartbeat, so it was rather
uneventful - he told me the usual stuff and to
cut down on the vitamin intake, since I'm not in
a third world country, too much extra nutrition
will give me a healthy baby allright - and a big
baby! So he said the Shaklee multi is enough, but
I still sometimes take extra B complex and Iron,
as well as the Omega 3s, for baby brain power.
Next checkup is the 27th of April, and since Josh
wants to be fully involved in the pregnancy, my
doctor is going to show Josh how to examine me -
won't that be fun. The nausea comes and goes, as
long as I eat the right things and get enough
rest - if I stay up too late I feel SO awful -
rest is important to growing beans! Oh, I almost
forgot! The "official" due date is
October 24th.
Week 18 (May 30 - also our
first anniversary!)
I know, it's been way too
long since I've made an update. It's the
beginning of my 18th week and I've said nothing
since week 10, you're probably wondering why. My
computer has ben down for the most part, so this
is the first opportunity I've had to actually
make an update. So, here I am in my second
trimester, and I'm loving it! I have energy again,
I have drive and more stamina, and my nesting
instinct is OVERPOWERING, so I've been creating
all sorts of projects all over the house for Josh
to do. I've had some slight shortness of breath
on occasion and a runny nose, and still with the
random heartburn - oh, and the feet swelling! But
those are minor and normal symptoms, and I have
no worries with them. I feel good, I can eat like
a normal human being again, I can actually go out
and socialize, and I love it! I have a very
strong feeling he's a boy, as does Josh, but just
to be safe, we're still going to get all asexual
baby clothes, just in case. Trimester 2 is going
well, I'm halfway through my pregnancy and
halfway into getting the house ready for him (or
her). I'm getting very scatterbrained, have
totally lost my short term memory and cannot seem
to coordinate anything - also said to be normal
right now. I am also seeming to experience an
inability to type! I have also become Queen Mood
Swing, and my poor
husband never knows who he is coming home (or
just in the room) to, or even if I am nice then,
it doesn't always last. I am incredibly
unpredictable and not at all rational, and all he
can do is just try his best to accommodate and
then sneak away quietly to have some time alone
in a sane place. We can mostly laugh about it,
but in the heat of the moment, it's not so funny.
I am appreciative of the fact that I can still
bend over forward and get myself up off of the
sofa without assistance - I am fully aware that
this won't last, so I enjoy it while I can.
Want to see
what the baby looks like?
Week 22 (June 20, 2000)
Happy solstice! Wow, have we
come that far already? The baby is moving a lot,
I can feel him change positions and swim around
in there. I feel like a belch factory, I am
constantly burping, whenever I move, whenever I
change positions, anything. My friends are
telling me I have that healthy glow that pregnant
women get - I sure feel wonderful, being pregnant,
maybe that's why. Josh reads to him evry night
before bed - we read "Where the Wild Things
Are", by Maurice Sendak. He moves close to
Josh when hje reads and seems to listen intently.
Sometimes I sit there and play with him, I poke
my belly where I can feel him and then let him
poke me back. It's so amazing, this little being,
already capable of movement, touch, hearing, is
already taking in his environment and the sounds
around him. I cannnot wait to meet him outside of
my body, and then when I think of it, all the
responsibility and everything I have to be and do
for him so he'll turn out ll right, I get almost
overwhelmed and think I am hardly worthy of this
little human being, of this perfect little life
inside of me. But then, people have alway told me
I'll make such a great mother - that's a lot to
live up to, you know, no pressure there! I worry
about making mistakes, I think I have this
expectation og myself that I should be infallible,
the "perfect parent", I should do no
wrong EVER. That's ridiculous, isn't it? I mean.
what kind of example would THAT set for my little
one, having someone who's perfect as a parent -
they'd probably set impossible standards for
themselves and berate themselves every time they
don't live up to them - like I tend to do! I
definitely don't want that for them - I want them
to know that whoever they are is wonderful, and
they're perfect just how they are, flaws and all.
That's what makes us human, our "flaws".
Well, enough of the mushy stuff. I'm more than
halfway through now, coming down the home stretch.
Wow. In about 4 months I'm going to be a for real
mommy.
Week 24 (July 7, 2000)
This baby's going to be some
kind of acrobat or gymnast, methinks! He never
stops moving when he's awake! I'm amazed because
I'm only 5 1/2 months pregnant and I can actually
physically SEE him move, he's like Alien in there!
I'm feeling good, no swelling as of late, nothing
really to speak of physically other than his
constant movement. My sister-in-law, Shelly, just
had her baby about 2 weeks ago, they finally had
a girl! I just met Brandon, my friends' Keith and
Tracy's baby, born March 5th - seems we're all
procreating here! It's amazing, I love sharing
this experience with so many women at once. I had
one little scare where I thought I had a virus
and went straight to the doctor, but it was only
some bad food, all was well. He said my pregnancy
has been going perfectly - isn't that what you
love to hear from your doctor! Tomorrow is my
first Lamaze class.
Week 31 (August 28, 2000)
My website was down, so it's
been awhile since I've been able to give an
update! But I'm back and all is well. My body is
changing constantly, I'm having a difficult time
keeping up with it, and there have been some
definite challenges. My hips are opening up in
preparation for having to pass a baby through, so
at night I'm changing positions constantly, to
avoid joint pain. Normal stuff, not so fun to
adjust to. My baby shower was the 19th, which was
wonderful, so many of my friends and relatives
were there to share our celebration. It made the
whole thing that much more real, since now we
have all of this baby stuff around the house. We're
in the process of creating the upstairs bedrooms
for the baby's room and for our sleeping room -
we've chosen to go with an opposite theme. One
room is night, complete with hundreds of glowy
stars, and the other is day, light blue sky with
fluffy clouds. The curtains in the night room
will be day and in the day room will be night. We've
only just completed the painting in the night
room, so we have some things to do still, but it's
shaping up nicely. Not much longer and we'll have
the little one for whom all of this work is being
done. That's the exciting part. I cannot wait to
hold her or him in my arms. I was so sure at the
begining of the pregnancy this was a boy, and now
I'm not so sure. We're supposed to have an
ultrasound this Saturday, maybe we'll get some
information there, but I'm not holding my breath.
We've now been to all three Lamaze classes with
Judy Breitenfeld, the instructor who will also be
assisting at our birth. She's wonderful, and
really puts us at ease about the whole process as
well as about any reservations we may have had
left over about Dr. Duhart. She delivered her now
grown children with him and has been working with
him for that long, and she cannot say enough
about him. I've also met countless people who
have used him previously and they cannot say
enough about him, either. So I'm very excited and
very ready to have this baby. I've also invited
my friends Joy, Nikki, Sharon, Trish and my
mother to attend the birth, so we'll have plenty
of good energy and support going on.
Week 32 (September 6, 2000)
We finally got our
ultrasound!!! He's
amazing, it was so magickal to see him up there
on the screen and to feel him move as we watched
on screen. He played with the ultrasound
technician, kicking back every time she put the
little device on my belly. I scanned the
photos, they're so
amazing. And yes, he showed us his little boyness,
so now we know! I have excruciating lower pack
pain, I'm thinking I'm going to see about a
chiropractic adjustment, because I don't think
massage will be enough. My feet keep swelling
like fat sausages, which I hate - it's both
uncomfortable AND annoying. That's about it,
though - otherwise I'm just waiting for his
arrival. I'm so done having him inside, I want to
see his little face and hold him in my arms!!!
Week 34 (September 21, 2000)
Well, yesterday was my 29th
birthday - happy birthday to me! It almost doesn't
seem real, that already I could have reached the
age of 29. And yet, here I am. Josh made me a
wonderful dinner of shrimp fettuccine with a
white wine clam sauce, followed by Hagen Daas
Coffe Mocha Chip ice cream and a chocolate silk
pie. MMMMMM!!! We loved it! As for the pregnancy,
we have entered the stage I lovingly refer to as
"perpetual waiting." I feel as though
all I am now is the waiting for the baby. The
house is almost ready, save for the furnace we're
having installed Monday, we have all his supplies,
the projects we had are mostly finished. So all I
have to do is wait now. And that becomes SO
boring! My cats know something is up, they're all
acting like complete fools around here, getting
into so much trouble I'm beginning to wonder if
they're worth it. Not really, they're my first
children, you know. They've just become REALLY
BAD children all of a sudden. All four of them.
The youngest, Frenzie, has been very clingy
lately, always wanting to be right next to me. I
know they know. Oh, if you're reading this and
you're pregnant or thinking of becoming pregnant,
I HIGHLY recommend buying a belly brace to help
you in those final months. They're a stroke of
genius, these belts. My husband got one for me
near the beginning of the pregnancy, at which
time I told him I wished he hadn't wastd his
money like that, I really didn't need this big
brace to carry around my belly. Well, I've since
eaten those words - I don't go anywhere without
it - it's wonderful! It SO makes a difference in
that lower back pain, and makes it so much easier
to walk around and to carry that HUGE belly! I
apologised to my husband and told him what a
wonderful man he was to be thinking of me so
early and considering my pain. Another wonderful
cure for that lower back pain is seeing a
chiropractor! I've been to one and it makes all
the difference in the world! Since your body is
constantly changing shape, it very easily gets
all out of alignment, and those weekly visits to
the chiropractor can make all the difference
comfort-wise. And likely in labor since I'll be
aligned then, too! Well, the time draws nearer
and nearer - not nearly quickly enough for me, I
want to see the lovely little face of my baby
Quinn!
Week 37 (October 6, 2000)
Well, here we are, a day
from my personal predicted due date. Quinn has
been dropped for about 12 days now, and according
to my doula, once they drop it's usually not more
than two weeks before labor and delivery. So we
wait. Everything changes every day now, including
how I feel and what's going on inside of me. The
beginning of the week was totally lethargic for
me, I could hardly stay awake and was totally
unmotivated to do anything at all. Yesterday was
better, though I still found a nap in the
afternoon, longer than usual. Then today I've
been feeling all right again. Not that I could
really do so much, because he's dropped so far it
has become REALLY uncomfortable to walk. It feels
like he could literally drop out of me, and the
pressure is SO strong! I think my cervix is
effacing, which means labor SOON - I've been
having the pains akin to menstrual cramps, not
contractions but I think my cervix. I haven't had
much discomfort in the way of Braxton-Hicks
contractions or anything - a couple, but not many
- so I almost have to wonder if I'll even notice
true contractions at all. I'm sure I will, though.
Josh and I are both very excited, we both want to
hold him and play with him. Josh has been reading
"The Little Prince" to Quinn almost
every night, ans we play with him by poking him
and waiting for him to poke back. We've played
six different versions of the song "Quinn
the Eskimo" for him, he really seems to like
the music, he kicks and moves about when it's
played. He also seems excited by male voices - my
doctor has a very deep voice, and when he spoke
at our last visit, Quinn was just moving all over
the place, much like he does when Daddy is
reading to him. So we watch and we wait.... So we
watch and we wait....
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