April 30, 2003

I had a dream last night...

that my stomach was totally elastic. I was watching the baby move around, and an entire foot would stretch out so far that I could see every detail of the five little toes and the curve of the heel. To be honest, it kind of freaked me out.

Posted by Dineen at 10:28 AM | Comments (1)

April 29, 2003

Diapers

I finally took the plunge today and ordered three dozen cloth diapers for the little one. They should arrive within a few days, and then they need to be washed, washed, and washed some more so they can be ready to use when babybean arrives. Hopefully, three dozen infant-sized diapers will be enough to start, along with about 6 covers of various types. Allison warned me that I may well want more covers -- she's probably right -- but I am going to try to hold out for at least a week or two to decide which ones we like and work on our baby before I invest too much. That should mean doing a load of diapers every other day. I know using cloth will be so much better for the baby's skin, and cheaper in the long run to boot. I just hope we can handle it!

Posted by Dineen at 01:47 PM | Comments (4)

April 24, 2003

A Pregnant Woman Walks Into A Bar...

...and much hillarity ensues. Well, not hillarity, exactly. But I was trying to make small talk with some friends of the guest of honor, so as not to monopolize the time of the only person I knew there. One of the ladies with whom I was speaking turned to me and said "so...are you seeing anyone?" I looked down at my belly and replied "um, well, I am married." She was so mortified! I wish I had had the quick wit to come back with "well, I obviously saw someone eight months ago!" But you always come up with the quick come backs after the fact.

Posted by Dineen at 11:22 PM | Comments (0)

April 22, 2003

Daddy's Ready to Meet You!

Ever since the shower in New York, we've been feeling pretty ready to have this kid. Heck, Mike even admitted the other day that he wants to know whether babybean is a boy or a girl now -- not because he really wants to find out before delivery, but more because he's really ready to get to know his child.

I have been fortunate enough to have the baby inside me, to feel its every move, to get an idea of its personality. Mike can't glean that from the occasional hand on the belly. I've found myself looking down at the belly and asking "Are you a [boy's name] or a [girl's name]?" (And no, we're not dishing on names either, so don't ask!) Mike has picked up on tummy talk some more, too. Early on, it was was easier for me not to personalize things too much -- too many what-ifs. I was deathly afraid of giving this baby inside of me a name, because what if something went wrong? Now, with the time at hand, it would be nice to get a little more up close and personal. Soon enough.

Posted by Dineen at 04:29 PM | Comments (0)

April 21, 2003

Head, meet Pelvis

Had another doctor's appointment today, this time with Dr. H (one of the ones I really like; probably my #2 choice after Dr. Miller). She was the one who admitted me to the hospital. She was great -- funny how she is still steamed about the way I was treated in the ER. The good news is, babybean has assumed the head down position, right on schedule. The little one may yet move again, but being head down now is a good sign. I had a feeling the baby was now head down -- ever since the shower, I have felt a kind of dull ache deep down, on what I can only assume is my cervix. It's not yet to the point where I feel like the baby's head is down between my legs, but I am sure that time is coming. And my total weight gain so far this pregancy is 10 pounds. Not bad.

Oh, and leaving the office I ran into a woman who is due next week. She actually asked me "and are you expecting?" I thought by this point, I was a little more obvious than that....

Posted by Dineen at 11:47 AM | Comments (0)

April 19, 2003

Belly Dancing

I am not sure how one is expected to concentrate on writing legal briefs when one's belly is constantly being kicked, punched, and otherwise batted about from the inside. Babybean seems to get mad if I lean in toward my computer and the desk puts pressure on my belly; that's cause for major pushback. Of course, I know I am going to miss it when the child slows down as D-Day approaches (did anyone notice that my due date is also D-Day?). I even have a feeling that I am going to miss it once the baby is born, even though we are dying to meet it. It seems like every stage of pregnancy goes by simultaneously too fast and not fast enough. Just seven weeks to go!

Posted by Dineen at 04:17 PM | Comments (2)

April 18, 2003

Miserable Day

Yesterday I was just miserable. I woke up with my whole tummy area just aching like crazy. It hurt to stand up straight. It hurt to bend over. It REALLY hurt whenever the baby moved (which, thankfully, was often, so I wasn't really worried about the baby through all of this). The only almost comfortable positions were laying down or hunched over like an old lady. I didn't make it to work until almost 11 (I had a filing I HAD to do!) but then left as soon as that one task was done and was home in bed by 3 pm. Threw up my breakfast while at work, and then some. Never even attempted lunch. Slept all afternoon, had a little tomato soup, and went back to sleep. Woke up around 7, joined Mike in the living room and read for awhile. Finally, I had a bowl of cereal around 9pm and kept that down. I was back in bed by 10:30, and had intended to read but fell right asleep. Very strange.

I called the doc in the afternoon at Mike's insistance, and the most likely culprit is -- get this -- gas. There's just so little room in there, that if it ain't coming out it is causing a lot of internal pressure. If it was based on what I ate, then, well, brussel sprouts are off my list until after the baby comes and there is more room in there for my digestive tract to handle them!

The good news is, I woke up pretty much good as new today. Whether it was gas or something else, it has passed (no pun intended).

Posted by Dineen at 10:32 AM | Comments (1)

April 16, 2003

Breastfeeding Class

I am glad I took the breastfeeding class at the hospital last night, but I was also a little disappointed by it. The instructor spoke so fast, and packed so much info into each sentence, that things were hard to follow. Also, 3 of the 12 or so women brought their hubbies, which is great in the sense that hubby wants to be involved to the extent possible with breastfeeding (and the instructor did have some ideas for hubby involvement in the breastfeeding process; mainly in helping to keep baby awake!) but I found it a little awkward to ask questions with the guys there. Which is kind of weird, considering I claim I will have no problem with breastfeeding in public. But somehow, holding a plastic baby up to the outside of my shirt and squeezing my nipple in full view felt a lot more awkward than I think bringing a real baby discretely into place and squeezing from under the shirt will be.

The limited information on pumping was also more confusing than anything else. I think she almost wanted to make it complicated so that we would take her other class on going back to work while breastfeeding! I've always been 100% confident (but trying really hard not to be cocky about it) that I would breastfeed exclusively at first, introduce bottled breast milk between 4-6 weeks so I could go back to work, and continue breastfeeding at least for the first year. No formula, no way. I know that it is doable, but the message I got out of the class was a little mixed. She didn't mean to be discouraging, by any means, but somehow I was discouraged.

Please encourage me!

Posted by Dineen at 05:24 PM | Comments (2)

April 15, 2003

It Takes a Village...

Hillary Clinton was not the first person to note that it takes a village to raise a child. The baby shower seems to be the modern equivalent. Saturday, I had the honor to be surrounded by family and friends -- many of whom I hadn't seen since our wedding, if not before! -- and to be literally showered with all things baby. Actually, it would better be described as a downpour! I was absolutely floored by the generosity exhibited by my friends and family.

A few weeks ago, I was panicking that I was woefully unprepared -- the only baby items I had were a few outfits received as gifts early on. Now, I can hardly believe how much STUFF we have for this child. Bibs, onesies, car seat, bouncer, swing, high chair, sheets, blankets, books, stuffed animals, a whole bunch of wonderful hand-me-down clothing -- I am truly blessed to have this kind of a village. The big joke on Saturday was that it wouldn't even all fit in the car (it did; but thank goodness we recently purchased an SUV!). I am a lot calmer than I was, and that peace of mind in and of itself is priceless. Real thank yous are on their way, but in the meantime, many thanks to all who attended -- it was great seeing everyone. Pictures will be posted soon.

Posted by Dineen at 11:08 AM | Comments (0)

April 09, 2003

Self Grope

Someone at the office made a comment today that everytime she sees me, I have my hand under my shirt and on my belly. She's probably right, and it isn't the most professional look, but I just can't help it. My hand is drawn to my belly like a moth to a flame.

Besides, if my hand is on my belly, maybe it will deter others from just presuming to touch without asking first.
(Note to shower attendees: no explicit consent required at the shower -- ya'll are people I want to be able to feel and say hi to the baby!)

Posted by Dineen at 06:49 PM | Comments (2)

April 08, 2003

Moving Right Along

We had another doctor's appointment today. It was a little frustrating in that we waited for over an hour before we saw the doctor, and then she kind of rushed Mike through his questions. But then, this was the doc who is my least favorite in the practice. I REALLY hope she is not on call when the baby comes.

The baby, however, is just fine. Fundus is measuring right on track at 32 cm, my blood pressure is still nice and low, baby's heartbeat was fine (no numbers this time since they used the older doppler, but it was steady and strong).

And, Mike did a good job of busting out questions stemming from our class this past weekend, even though we hadn't really talked about any or made a list in advance. I was pretty impressed about that -- he had all the lingo, and the questions were good ones. Major hubby points. All in all, a good visit despite the doc. And hey, any day where I end up being able to have lunch with my Love is a good one.

Posted by Dineen at 02:37 PM | Comments (0)

April 06, 2003

Knowledge is Power

The majority of this weekend was spent in childbirth prep class. Most of what was taught in the class is stuff I had read about before, but it was very helpful to have it all brought together in one place: the anatomy of childbirth, what happens when things go right, what happens if things go wrong, how to relax and cope with the pain of labor, how to recognize labor, when to call your doctor, etc., etc. The most useful information, which can't be gleaned from books, was about the procedures and such in our hospital. Mike and I took comfort in the fact that we had already had our panicked trip to the hospital, so that the tour and such were somewhat old hat (we even were able to provide some extra insight to the other couples about the daddy beds in the rooms). Still, it was good to have someone walk us through it all.

The class was interesting, too, in what a cross section of life in the DC metro area it presented. The Buckaneers blanket we brought for the floor exercises caused us to strike up a conversation with one of the other couples -- the woman went to FSU undergrad, U of F for law school, and had lived in Tampa for a while, so we had a lot in common there. One couple had recently emigrated from Estonia (during the pregnancy!) so they had a lot of questions about the differences in care to expect in the U.S. versus what they would have gotten in Europe. For another couple, the wife was American but the husband was a Russian living in Paris desperately trying to finish his PhD thesis so that he could be finished defending it and be back in the States before the baby comes. Another woman grew up in Italy; one woman was Indian and her husband was of Japanese decent. And did I mention our instructor? Margaret is a self-described "little old fashioned English lady" from South Africa who has in the past taught child care and birthing prep to indiginous peoples in Africa, and even now, while teaching at two upscale hospitals in the DC metro area, and working as a doula, also does community outreach in poorer neighborhoods around here. If New York is THE Melting Pot, DC is a very close second, methinks. The only downside of taking the class in one weekend instead of spread out over several weeks is that we didn't get to know our classmates as well as we otherwise would have.

Posted by Dineen at 10:54 PM | Comments (0)

April 04, 2003

Tum, tumtumtum TUMS!

I have studiously avoided mentioning anything about my notable lack of heartburn thus far this pregnancy. There have been stretches of my life where I've had heartburn up the wazoo. For some reason, the last few months haven't been one of those stretches, and I was very grateful but scared to mention it -- didn't want to jinx things.

Well, I don't have to keep my mouth shut any longer. A few days ago, I broke down and bought a nice large container of Tums for my desk drawer at work, and another smaller one for my purse. I can't really complain, though -- I can handle a mere 9 weeks of heartburn! (Did I mention that, assuming I go full term, we only have 9 weeks +/2 weeks left before we meet the little one? Yipes!) It's certainly a small price to pay.

Posted by Dineen at 03:55 PM | Comments (0)

April 03, 2003

Gorgeous

Every morning, at some point in my getting ready routine, I end up naked in front of the dresser mirror. Every morning, I make some sort of remark about how big my belly is getting, or how my stretch marks seem to be expanding, or how weird it feels to be shaped this way.

Every morning, my husband just fixes me with a look of complete love and devotion as I go through this spiel and then tells me that I am absolutely gorgeous -- and means it. And every morning, I then thank God for blessing me with such a loving and devoted husband. I can't even imagine anyone else I would rather have babies with.

Posted by Dineen at 07:19 PM | Comments (1)