Monday, June 15, 2009

Lots Happening

This has been a week of milestones.

  • We decided where to deliver the baby. There are only two places that our midwife delivers. They are both about 10 to 15 minutes away, so distance wasn't a big factor. One of them is an older hospital, but is known for having a fantastic, level 4 NICU. Although the care is top-notch, since it's an older hospital, they don't have a lot of the amenities of newer hospitals. The biggest drawback for me was that they have you labor and deliver in one room, then switch to another for the remainder of your stay. Within two hours of delivering, you have to switch to a "mother and baby room." The other hospital only has a few beds in their NICU and is a level 3, but it's a much newer hospital. They have the space to allow you to labor, deliver, and recover in one room. In other words, once I get into the labor room, I'll be there for my entire stay. I also really like it that they have a "Baby First" program, which means that they immediately place the baby on mom's chest after it's born. Rather than keeping baby under a warmer for measurements, apgars, etc., all of that is done while baby rests on mom. The hospital's policy is to keep visitors and nonessential medical personnell out of the room for the first 90 minutes after birth. I really like the idea that Brett and I will be able to spend some special time with the baby before the flood of visitors starts trickling in. Ultimately, we decided to have the baby at the newer hospital. If anything's wrong with the baby, they can stabilize him/her and transfer to the level 4 NICU.
  • Friday was the first day I wore maternity clothes. It was probably a tad premature, especially since I'm back in regular clothes plus a Bella Band today. I was just so frustrated with my clothes by the end of last week. Case in point, I was planning to wear pants, a tank, and a cardigan one day last week. Unsurprisingly, the pants were too tight, so I added on the Bella Band. Then, my boobs were too big to continue squeezing into my tank top, so I added a camisole below my tank top. On my top half, I was wearing a bra, two tanks tops, and a cardigan. On my bottom half, pants and a Bella Band. This just seemed like too much clothing to keep straigthened up for the whole day. On Friday I gave in and spent a glorious day feeling comfortable. I'll probably make the switch for good in the next week or two.
  • We started on the nursery! Well, kind of. We cleared out the nursery, which used to be our guest room and turned our office into the new guest room. I am very wishy-washy about what I want the nursery to look like. Here's what I know -- it's got to be gender neutral for obvious reasons. The walls are currently a soft green and I'd like to keep them that way because it's not safe for me to paint and I'm our family's official painter, so Brett probably wouldn't be able to do it alone. We bought a dresser/changing table in a light wood tone, so it looks like we'll be sticking with that wood tone. We bought the dresser last weekend when a very posh part of town was having their neighborhood garage sale. It's a Ragazzi three drawer dresser with a side cabinet for diapers. It also came with a hutch to attach to the top. The woman who sold it said they spent over $1,000 for it, but we got it for $150. It really look gorgeous in the room -- I'll try to post pictures. Aside from these things, I don't know what to do for the nursery. I keep looking online for bedding or samples to inspire me, but nothing yet.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Expected and Good to Hear

After struggling to hear back from the perinatologist's office, I finally got the results of our NT scan bloodwork. They were supposed to call me in 7 to 10 days, but today marks two weeks, which was frustration because, even though I expected to get good news, I was anxious about actually hearing from them.

Based on my age alone, the risk for Down Syndrome was 1/1,000. Once you factor in the NT measurement and bloodwork results, our risk was down to 1/10,000. For the Trisomies, our age-based risk was 1/1,800. After factoring in the bloodwork, it was 1/10,000.

I feel really good about the results!

Saturday, June 6, 2009

Week 13

I think I'm too close to this situation to really see a difference from week to week.

Here's my 13 week belly pic next to the 12 week pic. 
13 weeks (excuse my appearance, we were running errands all day)
12 weeks

I don't see much difference in the belly, but my boobs certainly appear to be growing.

For the sake of comparison, here's 13 weeks vs. 5 weeks
13 weeks
5 weeks

I guess the boobs and belly have really grown over the past 2 months.  I hope it all deflates once this baby comes.


Friday, June 5, 2009

Thanks and Sorry, Dad

One thing people who know me are surprised about is that my dad's full-time occupation is selling on ebay. I am a very driven, professional woman and I place a lot of value on my career. My dad, on the other hand, is a hippy who never grew up. Since he sells on ebay for a living, he spends most weekends at garage and estate sales. When we found out we were pregnant, I asked him to start watching for the Medela Pump in Style double breast pump. This Consumer Reports-recommended gem goes for a whopping $280 at Target.

He called today that he got one at a garage sale that was very gently used and included a case for a measly $45. That's about 85% off. He tested it by plugging it into an outlet at the garage sale. It made a whooshing noise, so we assume that means it works. I suppose it would hurt like hell to test it out on myself between now and the baby's arrival. I just need to coax one of my breastfeeding friends to be my guinea pig.

I'm sure my dad felt awkward buying a breast pump for his daughter, but like I said, he's a grown up hippy so he'll get over it. Happy weekend everyone! We have nothing planned, which might sound boring, but is a dream come true for me. I can finally make it to the farmer's market, clean my house and take my dog for a few walks.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

This is Supposed to Happen

My new mantra is to repeat, "This is supposed to happen." Every time I am changing clothes or stepping into the mirror and I catch a glimpse of my fuller, rounder, mushier body, my gut reaction is disgust. Then the mantra kicks in and I remind myself that if I were somehow getting thinner and more toned, I'd be worried about the health of my baby.

I've gained 4 pounds so far and can proudly fit into most of my pre-pregnancy wardrobe (with the occasional help of the Bella Band), but it is still hard to get used to this new body of mine. I've never been a skinny girl, but I've never been very big either. I've always tried my best to eat healthfully, but since getting pregnant, my taste in foods has really changed. I can't bear the thought of seafood or chicken, my old standbys.

Oh well, this is supposed to happen. I think it'll be easier to deal with when I actually look pregnant, rather than just like I stopped taking care of myself.