We're on the home stretch Baby!

Dear Baby,
I’m 28 weeks pregnant with you, which means you’re about 26 weeks (ish) old.  Even though we haven’t officially met yet, I feel like I’m starting to get to know you.
For instance, I know you have at least two hobbies: Rolling over and karate kicks! One day not long ago, I counted three separate instances of you hiccuping. I hope it didn’t bother you too much. When I have hiccups, I just want to get rid of ‘em. Supposedly, you having hiccups is a sign of your maturing nervous system and it’s a good thing. And though your ninja kicks sometimes take me by surprise, I know your doing good in there. And since your Asian I guess I can forgive you for that, I mean its only natural for you!
You seem coziest in my lower abdomen, usually way below my stretched-out bellybutton. Yet, you have plenty of room to stretch out if you want. Sometimes, I feel you moving at my sides. Other times, you’re trying to tickle my ribs. I guess if you were mostly higher up, it might be more uncomfortable for me to take deep breaths. Instead, I get to go to the bathroom all the time, since you’re squishin’ my bladder.
I’ve decided I’m your “apartment” since I take care of the exterior (me) and your own living quarters are pretty much up to you, unless you need special assistance. By the way, you’ll be getting your eviction notice pretty soon. In nine weeks, you’ll technically be full-term. In 12 weeks, I’ll be 40 weeks pregnant, or at my official due date. If you choose to be a little slow to vacate the premises, your landlady will probably try to encourage you to leave. Please move out when you’re fully ready, but I’d really appreciate it if you came on your own. I’d rather not be induced, if ya don’t mind.
You do owe rent, but it won’t be due for a few decades. You’ll pay that by having a child of your own. Yes, my dear, that’s what we call the circle of life *cue Lion King theme music*.
Your daddy and I have already finished getting your room put together. I ordered your crib and dresser and your Daddy put all the pieces together. I hope it’s cozy for you. After a frustrating time trying to sort through the bazillion different varieties, we settled on a 4 in 1 convertible crib that was highly ranked by Consumer Reports! Let’s hope it doesn’t get recalled. Seems like that happens a lot.
We got you a mattress that’s also supposedly one of the top baby mattress choices out there. It’s ultra-firm and it weighs like seven or eight pounds. That ought to be nice when it’s 2 a.m. and your diaper explodes and I need to put new sheets on the bed! I have double mattress lined and sheeted it in case that happens! But for the first few weeks you'll be sleeping in a beautiful bassinet in our room :) or quite possibly in Mommy and Daddy's bed if you so choose!
Also, we picked up your car seat travel system. It seems cozy enough. In theory, it’ll last you a little while.
I’ve got a closet full of clothes for you already, but it still doesn't seem to be enough! I’m keeping track of it by sizes so I know when I have enough of certain items, but I don't know how big your little booty is gonna be so its tough deciding how much of what size. No offense, but I’m expecting you to be a messy baby, with lots of spit-ups, barfs, diaper explosions, and general baby goo. Go ahead and surprise me and be a neat, un-gooey baby, but I’m not holding my breath (except for when I’m changing those stinky diapers!).
Because of that, I anticipate needing to change your clothes a few times per day. I want to have enough clothing to be able to do your laundry no more than twice per week, is that wishful thinking?!
This week, your daddy and I will attend our first Bradley method childbirth class. We hope to meet some nice people and learn how to help you be born.
Last week I took my gestational diabetes test, and I haven't seen our midwife yet but I'm guessing I'm OK because I assume she'd call me if I did have it as I'd have to change my eating habits. I'm not into diets, so thank God for that!
Yay to us both for making it into the third trimester! This last bit is going to be something else. You’re going to grow a ton of that cute baby fat, and I’m going to plump up a lot! Whatchoutnow!
See you soon!
Love,
Your Mommy

He's ugly but man he makes great sperm!?!?

According to FOX News, findings from the University of Oxford and University College London claim that attractive males produce less sperm during sex. Researchers think good-looking males are biologically geared to hold back their sperm in each sexual encounter to increase their chance of impregnating more females. (In simpler terms, the hunks are going to have many chances to have sex, so they are programmed to not give everything they’ve got in one shot. The ugly guys somehow realize they may not get other chances and put all their sperm in one basket, so to speak.)

Here are my problems with this study:

How does a researcher determine who is good looking and who isn’t? Isn’t beauty in the eye of the beholder?

What about guys who go around thinking they are good looking but aren’t? Are their sperm confused as to whether they should stay or go?

Did some ugly scientist come up with the idea for this study to prove his manhood?

(Does anyone else remember that old, offensive song that went something like, “If you want to be happy for the rest of your life, never make a pretty woman your wife. So from my personal point of view, get an ugly girl to marry you.” I think I hear a sequel in the works . . . .)

Boobs, Milk and Drugs

The other evening, I picked up one of my “How to care for an infant” books and began reading. I think it’s a pretty decent read for those of us who haven’t had a child yet and are looking at a baby wondering, when do I feed that thing? When do I wash it? Why is it breathing all creepy?
I picked up some useful information. I had no idea that a baby gets a white mouth if it has thrush. I didn’t know a newborn needed “Tummy Time.” You get the idea. Little nuts and bolts of raising an infant to make me more informed, less ignorant, and therefore more confident.
However, when I got to the breastfeeding section, I kind of panicked. It sounded highly technical and riddled with difficulty. Broken down into hours, ounces, infections, blocked ducts, overproducing, under producing, pumping, freezing…Ugh, its incredibly discouraging. As I read, I became convinced that my baby was going to reject me, not eat, become malnourished, and in a last minute save I’d be forced to give her a bottle and hence feel like a massive failure.
So in a kind of panicky mood, I emailed a few people, and thankfully, my midwife answered the call. She told me that there was a breastfeeding support group that meets monthly, a La Leche League they call it. I immediately email the "president" to find out the schedule. I'm not really one for group joining, and I don't typically like to meet anyone new (I know, I'm a hermit loser!) but a whole group of women that sits around breastfeeding, talking about breastfeeding, teaching about us newbies about breastfeeding, YAY for me, I'm attending!!
So then I receive an email from a friend with this link to a video showing the difference between an infant who had a medicated birth and one who had an un-medicated birth. The video shows the baby on the  mothers chest right after birth. It’s really powerful testimony when you seen an alert little guy grab onto a breast right away and know exactly what to do, as opposed to a sleepy and lethargic little guy who couldn’t quite seem to get it together. He almost seemed confused by the breast and didn’t even really try for it. If you’re reading this and you want to see, check it out-link is below…

http://www.facetofind.com/video?w=MTE0NDc4ODk4NTczMTk2#downloading


I've known from the moment I found out I was pregnant I wanted a non medicated home birth with a wonderful mid-wife helping me along surrounded by my family. But seeing this video makes me feel even more confident to make it through, as hard as it may be, all natural. I don't want my baby born all doped up off pain medicine just because I couldn't handle it! (Mom, when I'm screaming for pain relief during my labor, remind me of this!! LOL)

Its Real.

Last night, while I was taking a bath, I saw Baby do a complete roll over. It was fascinating. I thought, “wow, a person just rolled over in there.” Obvious, but continually startling, is the fact that a baby is hanging out in my uterus. She’s two pounds-ish. At this point, she’s a tiny and fully formed baby-looking baby. And I don’t know what parts I saw moving, but it was definitely a first-time massive show of force by the Baby growing in there. The other night, she kicked me 6 times, rapid- fire. She’s planning something.

She forced me to eat a Heath shake at Cold Stone yesterday. Not my idea…HERS. Even after a very healthy first breakfast of whole grain cereal with bananas, and a very healthy second breakfast of Oats n Honey granola and yogurt, she caused me to crack. How is she so firmly in charge?!

I again feel so different after seeing that little rollover manouever. I feel we’ve reached a whole new level, Baby and I. I called for Tim  to come see, because I hoped she’d do it again. Of course, as she is firmly in charge, she suddenly got shy and decided not to budge at all. I want to see it again. I want to see a little foot or hand. This was a connection very different from the ultrasounds. The kicks are fun. The ultrasound pics are amazing and adorable. The roll…was babylike and real.
I’m going to be a mom. I guess I already am. I don’t even pretend to comprehend what that means. I think of the fun parts and the scary parts. I think of a 17 year old naive girl stumbling drunkenly into her car after a party, I think of a 3 year old girl snuggling in my lap and giving me hugs. I think of seeing her graduate from college, I think of her flunking out of grad school. I imagine guitar lessons or dance recitals, I imagine a teenager who locks herself in her room and won’t talk to me.
Television has given me a wrongheaded impression that parenthood is going to be sticky from one end to the other, and at some point, I’m going to be one of those teary, denial-filled mothers shown on Law And Order who swears her kid would never have stabbed a classmate for drugs. On the otherhand I think of the way I was raised, and the relationship I had with my parents. I struggle to figure out how to make Baby have the exact childhood I did. What did my parents say to me again? What was I punished for and what did they let slide? What was it that made me turn out to be an ok kinda person?? Because I cant seem to remember...
but right now, I’m imagining pushing her in her stroller around the park.  I’m imagining laying her gently in her bassinet so I don’t wake her up after a feeding. I’m imagining her eyes meeting mine with glazed baby-wonder when we see each other for the first time.
And I’m feeling this is becoming more real every day...and I'm excited. But I'm scared.

A letter to my daughter

 

Dear Baby,

My favorite time with you so far is around midnight-one o’clock. I’m already in bed, Tim is asleep, the puppies have settled down, and the world is quiet. The only person that seems to be awake is you.

I’ll be laying there just on the precipice of a dream and you’ll start bouncing away inside of me. It’s amusing because you rarely ever move during the day. I just think it’s because you like the rocking movement caused by all of my running around in the day. When things finally settle down and I become still, you decide that it’s time to wake up and say hello.

I don’t mind. Even if it’s been the longest day of my life, your little kicks still make me smile :) You’re the most active then and it’s like you’re giving me a preview of what life with you is going to be like. Unexpected. Unpredictable, but always ever so exciting. I almost don’t want you to come out. I don’t want to share those moments with anyone. I want it to always be you and me like that. At the same time, I can’t wait to see you!

Last night was the first time I’ve felt you get the hiccups. It wasn’t for very long, but I’m sure that’s what it was. I can almost imagine what your pretty little face looked like the when you got them!That’s something we’ll always share, you and me. Your first hiccup!

Love,

Your mommy

His girls can swim!

Turns out we got lucky in our sex selection journey. After months of reading how to make a girl/boy books (don't judge me!) we had finally found ourselves ready to start trying last June. Each month I followed the "steps" to successfully make a girl baby. My generation is called the "Microwave" generation, we want what we want and we want it NOW! We think we don't have time to wait or time to save, which is one of the reasons my generation is mostly poor and unsuccessful. But that's another blog! Anyway, after 2 months of unsuccessful pregnancy attempts I was growing impatient.
Go figure.
So the next month, August, I was like screw it. I checked to know when I was ovulating and "practiced" baby making with Tim everyday that week, the 3 leading up to ovulation, the day of, and the 3 after ovulation. Lets say it was a real good week for him! Lol!
To successfully make a girl, apparently you have to only "practice" the few days prior to ovulation but stop 1-2 days before actual ovulation. See girly sperm swim slow but live long and male spermy swim fast but die quick so it would make sense that after 1-2 days only the girly sperms are left ready to pounce when my egg drops.

But, my impatient self got the better of me, I had baby fever, and I just wanted to get pregnant! I thought, everybody else just does it and God will give me what He will either way, so we went at it the old fashioned way and low and behold...HIS GIRLS CAN SWIM!!!

Oh my God I'm having a...!!!

Well I had my ultrasound follow up the other day. I went in to the appointment thinking, this is IT! THIS is the day I will find out the sex of my baby. (I know there are you moms out there who say, "its the last real surprise in life to wait until Baby is born". Great for you! But I'm just not that mom!) As you all know, the last ultrasound let me and all of you down when my little "problem child" would not get into a position to see its little parts, let alone a good position to get all the measurements the tech needed to document for my midwife. So this time around, at 22 weeks, I felt so confident, thinking, at this point 1.the baby is much bigger 2.i feel it move around ALL the time now and 3.I've been seeing the chiropractor who specializes in pregnancy and turning breach babies and I've doing all the recommended inversions so there's no way we won't find out!
Wrong!
Never underestimate the power of an unborn child!!! I hike my ass up on that table and she starts prodding around with her wand and low and behold, my baby hasn't moved out of the same spot from 4 weeks ago! Pardon my not so "mommy like" language but, WTF!?!?
The tech is all "I remember this baby, the hardest baby I've ever had". I'm all "this baby is already grounded from day one if it doesn't show its parts today!" I'm rolling over from side to side, sitting up, laying back down, ANYTHING to get this child to move around.
So I'm already feeling disappointed, again, that we will have to wait and I won't be able to shop! Until, just before the tech is going to give up, the baby gives us a little view of its hiny and Tim goes, "I think I just saw a hamburger!" and the tech says "I'm pretty sure that's what I see to, but I don't like to call it unless I'm 150% sure" then she pauses the picture and we all sit there staring at my baby's hiny...
theres definitely no twig and berries there. And the tech says she won't say what she sees, but she'll tell me what she doesn't see and that's a hot dog! So...
ITS A GIRL!!!!