Monthly Archives: February 2010

(19w2d)

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I had a moment (or two) of weakness. Costco is to blame.

I got really good at ignoring all things baby in the last 7 years or so. So when I found myself in Costco on Friday picking up supplies for my office, I was surprised as heck to find myself swaying in the breeze in front of a table piled high with Carter’s rompers and sleepers. I guess the blinders are off for good.

I managed to get out with only a couple of rompers and a few sleepers in sizes 3mo and 6mo. But um… I forgot to get coffee, so I had to go back to Costco today. And um… they had onesie sets. Yeeeeah. (And let me just say the prices at Costco are fantastic, especially for Carter’s stuff.)

And if that wasn’t enough… I found an awesome website for secret sales on baby/kid stuff. And I had a coupon. So here’s what I got (in a 3-6mo size) for a smoking deal:

Asian Koi print embroidered onesie set
(In case you can’t tell, it’s an Asian print of Koi and Dragons in oranges and blues. The cardigan, hat and booties are embroidered.)

Yeah, the stuff I’m getting is kinda boy-leaning. I think it’s a boy, but even if not I’d still have no problems putting a girl in the stuff I’ve bought this weekend. (The sleepers and rompers have dinosaurs, froggies, monkeys, and bugs on them. OMG, dinosaurs and froggies!!)

But I’m done shopping for clothes, at least until after the shower. (Which will be on May 15th, BTW) Friends have already told me it’s understandable, but I’m a little nuts for buying anything. I have a tight grip on my horses now. But it was really, really cool to be able to buy things for MY baby. (Paul thinks the stuff I got is super cute too!)

Physicality (18w5d)

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Random physical stuff:

  • I am rapidly approaching the end of useful life for my sole remaining pair of jeans. Getting them on right out of the dryer is becoming a challenge, and they’re not as comfortable when I’m sitting as they used to be. I will be completely in the realm of knit pants from here on out, methinks. (since maternity jeans in my size do.not.exist.)
  • Speaking of disappearing waistlines…. mine is slowly but surely disappearing. And the way I can really tell is that I can FEEL the honeydew melon of my uterus now, right at my waistline – in line with my bellybutton. I still haven’t felt anything (OK, maybe one or two flutters, but I’m not sure) so it’s reassuring to finally be able to feel *something* that confirms this isn’t all in my head. I showed Paul and had him poke my waist… just weirded him out.
  • Round ligament pain isn’t any fun. It’s terribly disconcerting. And, um… it hurts!
  • I’m finding that I do feel a difference now when I’m laying in bed and I end up on my back. The books say that laying on my back at this point will put pressure on a big vein and/or nerve. They’re right. I can feel it, and notice a difference when I roll to one side or the other. (It’s kinda cool when the stuff in the books turns out to be correct.)
  • I have ugly shoes. But I’m totally OK with this. Because for the first time in a long time, I have comfy shoes. AND they slip on, so no more bending over to tie my shoes. (I can tell that putting on socks is gonna get interesting in another month or so.) I got two pairs of these beauties, and they really are comfy!
  • Wilford Brimley is my hero. He (OK, the folks at Liberty Medical) finally sent me new insulin syringes. The ones I got at Walgreens sucked. At least once a week I would jab myself, only to have the dang needle not go in. Couple that with increasing dosages requiring me to jab myself multiple times, several times a day… I’m thrilled to have the largest insulin syringes available with the smallest, finest needles they got.
  • Lastly, while I’m all about winter all the time; I can’t wait for it to warm up enough to use the pool at my in-laws. I have every intention of heading over there after work each day and walking or swimming laps or something. The exercise will do me good, and the temporary relief of pressure off my back will be wonderful too. Our highs have been kissing 70 for a few days, so maybe it’s not so far away!

Random Weekendness (18w2d)

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We are now the proud owners of two bumpers and a baby comforter. They’re sitting on the green couch in the front room, and they look SO WEIRD to be in the house.

I went to Target today looking to buy a set of the blankets or something from the nursery stuff we picked out so we could figure out paint colors this weekend. But what do I see on the shelf? Both the bumpers and the comforter. None of which was at the other Target we went to on Thursday – they just had pictures and empty shelves. So I jumped on it and bought all three. I was grinning like a loon the whole time I wandered the store to pick up toilet paper and other exciting items, while glancing at the treasures already in my cart.

I’ve also found a new favorite activity. Wandering baby clothes stores. I went to the outlet last night to look for some shirts for an upcoming family gathering. But there happens to be a Gymboree outlet and a Carters Store there too. I went into both to poke around and see what outlet prices work out to. (Gymboree had some good deals, but I’ve seen better prices on the Carter’s stuff at BRU and Kohl’s.) What I LOVE about this though, is that I can talk about baby stuff and being pregnant and 10 years of trying and whether it’s a boy or a girl, and THEY DON’T MIND. Not only do the shopgirls not mind, they seem to be interested in what I’m saying and will actually converse with me!! (Yeah, I know – they’re hoping I’ll buy something… but I really don’t think that ladies who are giving me their names and reaching out to hug me as I’m leaving are being completely insincere.) It is SO NICE to find someone – ANYONE who will let me talk about this stuff without making me feel like I’m boring/annoying them.

I guess being pregnant is a lot like planning a wedding. It’s the most exciting, all-consuming thing in your life. And no one cares even remotely as much as you do. You find yourself craving to talk about the minutia of the whole journey, and since you’re researching everything – your mind is bursting with new information and ideas. But within 30 seconds of bringing it up, everyone’s eyes glaze over and they start scanning the room for methods of escape. I think everyone forgets pretty quickly what it’s like to be pregnant for the first time.

So I’m taking full advantage of shopgirls at baby stores. I’m not buying anything yet (I bought one clearanced pack of adorable onsies at Target on Thursday, but that’s all the baby clothes I’ve bought.) But it’s just so great to walk into a store like that and not be choking back tears or feeling an icy stab in the heart. It’s like I’m finally a member of some secret club, and they’ve got really adorable swag. (OMG, little onsies with monkeys and dinosaurs on them!!)

But speaking of clothing, I’m continuing my quest to find maternity clothing for me. I’ve found three websites that seem to carry maternity bras in a size that will be appropriate for me at the end of all of this. Even better, they seem to have really reasonable prices too. Maternity clothes are another story. The “plus size” maternity fashions fit me now. I’ve got room to grow in them, but I doubt they’ll be cutting it in June. But before that, we have a Gorman family gathering for Paul’s grandmother’s memorial service in mid-April. It’s in Orange County, and there will be a lot of family there. I’ll be 27 weeks (6.5 months) by then and hopefully showing. I want to find outfits that will make me look more pregnant than fat. (I know, tall order.) I found a couple of pretty good tops last night, but I’m still looking. I want to make a nice impression on the family as Paul’s wife. Not that I haven’t met them all before… just wanna make carrying our baby look good. I don’t want to be sloppy. Ah well. If this is the worst thing I have to deal with, I’ve got it easy.

Nursery chosen! (18w)

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After thinking about things a lot yesterday and talking them over with Paul and his mom over sandwiches after my appointment, I made the executive decision to go with a neutral nursery. I was already leaning towards a neutral color palette (if you know me, this comes as no real surprise.) So this allows us to move forward with the nursery planning, which means wall colors can be picked so we can paint before having the new carpet put in. We’re hoping to have the carpet done by early or mid-April.

I came home from school this afternoon with a mission in mind. I wanted to go to Target and Kohl’s to see what bedding options were available in-store vs the myriad options online. Paul was game to look at baby stuff at Target, and expand our fledgling registry.

So off we went to Target. Paul happily took charge of the scanner gun thingie and was scanning baby products willy-nilly. (I had some clean-up to do online when we got home…) But he was interested in the options available – and was surprisingly conversant in the language of baby gear. I guess he has been listening to my babbling for the last 2 months.

Paul was very happy (as was I) to get our hands on the car seat for my car and really check it out. We’re both confident in my researched choice (a Graco MyRide 65) and happier now to have seen it in person. No one seems to carry our stroller/carrier combo in-store, but that’s OK.

We cruised all the baby aisles, scanning little bits and pieces – with Paul pulling stuff of the shelves to ask me what on earth it was for or why one would want one option over another for some items. It was really great to be picking stuff out for our baby and talking about various options. (Altho honestly, I have no idea why one uses baby oil…)

When we got to the bedding aisle, my suspicions were confirmed: we don’t want a “set” that someone else has packaged up and named. They’re too expensive and a little to precious for my tastes. We decided to put together our own crib set with pieces from several themes, all with a brown, green, blue, beige color scheme. So without further ado, here’s the nursery so far: (click the pics for a better look!)

crib
The baby’s convertible crib in Distressed Black
dresser
A MALM dresser from IKEA in black-brown from Mama & Daddy’s bedroom. Rails will be installed on top so it can be a changing table too.
comforter
The comforter for the crib – not that it will get much/any use in the crib, but it sets the tone for the rest of the room.
blankets
Blankets that seemed to go with the colors & style of the comforter. The front blanket there is the same patter as the reverse of the comforter.
blankets
More blankets. I love the ones that say BABY all over them!
bumper
Bumper option #1
bumper
Bumper option #2.

It feels really good to have that settled. Now we can work on picking wall color(s) this weekend. No idea if we’re gonna do one or two colors – I’m thinking one, but that’s mostly because I’m feeling lazy. But I really don’t think the baby will care if there’s more than one color on the walls.

Kohl’s was a bust for anything other than OMG cute baby clothes on OMG OMG OMG sale and clearance. Paul and I were both showing each other cute sets, most of which ended up having monkeys on the bottoms. hee! I’ll go back to Kohl’s sometime to set up a registry there so that if nothing else I can get a good coupon to use later in the summer. Most places (I’ve heard) give good coupons and discounts for registry participants – especially on unpurchased items after the due date of the baby. We’ve got a Kohl’s gift card laying around, so I’ll wanna use that with whatever discounts I can snag!

It turned into a long evening, but we finished up with BBQ at Famous Dave’s and discussion of the world we’re bringing this kid into. (Heavy conversation for BBQ if ya ask me…) It was great to spend the time with Paul doing baby stuff. I’m looking forward to doing more!

Little Stinker… (17w6d)

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For those waiting with bated breath: WE DON’T REALLY KNOW. Sorry.

Our kid is a little stinker. The baby spent basically the entire time sitting on it’s butt, directly on top of my cervix. The tech tried and tried to jiggle it outta position, but nothing doing. (a couple of Andes mints didn’t help either.) She had a hard time even getting the measurements she needed for the anatomical ultrasound (femur, abdomen, head) because the little critter wouldn’t cooperate. And the couple of times it did move where we could get a look: it put it’s hand(s) between it’s legs.

But the good news is that Dr. Schwartz says everything looks fine. Some of the measurements are measuring “ahead” by nearly two weeks, but Dr. Schwartz says that’s because Paul and I are both tall, so we’re having a tall baby. It’s weight clocked in right at 8oz.

For those interested or who know what on earth this relates to:

  • Head Circumference: 16.25cm (6.4″)
  • Abdominal Circumference: 12.42cm (4.8″)
  • Femur Length: 2.5cm (1″)

The heartrate came in at 161, so according to old wives – it’s a girl. Dr Schwartz and the tech gave us a guess, but they both strongly cautioned us not to paint anything yet. I tried to explain to Dr. Schwartz that I’m a planner and I really need to know… he chuckled, told me to deal, and then listed his favorite neutral nursery colors.

Paul’s mom Jeanne came along today and seemed to really enjoy herself, especially when the tech turned up the sound and the WHOOSH-WHOOSH-WHOOSH of the baby’s little galloping heart stopped our chatter for a moment. I wish the kid would have cooperated a bit more so she could have seen it wave and face us like Paul and I have seen before. I invited her to come to the next appointment if she wanted to, since we’ll try again then to get/confirm the sex.

In the meantime, there’s new pictures that I screen grabbed from the DVD we got today. (I’ll get a DVD of the next appointment too.) They’re mostly body parts, but there’s a couple cool profiles – and an awesome 3/4 full face image from the heartrate image. It’s small, but if you’re good at all for looking at ultrasounds, I think you’ll see it. It’s kinda like the face on the moon… the baby is looking to the left. You can see the chin, lips, nose, cheeks, forehead and a dark hollow where the left eye is.

Blurry face
Labeled blurry face

The rest of the appointment was pretty ordinary. Insulin and one BP med were upped a tad. Weight is up .5lb for a total of 4.5lb in 18 weeks – just fine. My next appointment is in 3 weeks, which is great. The fewer appointments I have for a bit, the less paid leave I have to burn. (Last week’s illness cost me 3 days of maternity leave…) They drew blood for TSH, a1c, and the 2nd part of the quad screening. (Dr. Schwartz took a copy of a bill I got from the lab for $700 worth of “genetic” tests that my insurance is denying from my first visit in November… I LOVE that he’s willing to take on that kind of stuff for his patients.)

So for now I guess we’re looking at more gender neutral stuff, since we might not find out the sex of our little stinker until July!