science is magical

TOO COOL FOR SCHOOL

Wildology — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 18:45:58 +0000

You came at 12,I was broke by 11 that’s why you didn’t see it -boop-

**sigh**

Filed under: Academichic

I have Stuff and Anxiety

Wildology — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 20:02:05 +0000

Let me show you my anxiety…

Here is another view…

Oh my.

My husband’s sister is very very generous. Or perhaps they just needed more space in their house (I jest, …kind of).

Seriously, they have 2 small children, the youngest of which is turning 3 in March. They have lots of room and lots of stuff…and they have given it all to us. While this is great, it has caused me serious anxiety. I will slowly go through one bag at a time and sort into ‘give away’, ‘consignment’, and ‘keep’ piles. I will then put the ‘keep’ stuff in Tupperware bins and store it in the attic. We will probably only keep 1/10th of it. Our house is really small…and we don’t like lots of “stuff”.

Oh my.

Some of the bigger items:

Pack-n-play

Phil and Ted E3

Crib

Clothes…oh, the amount of clothes, ages infant—4 yoa

Bouncer/swing

Playmat

Toys…oh, the toys

Highchair

Car seat with 2 bases

I feel really lucky…..but the stuff made me feel pressure I had, until recently, pushed away. The fear that I faced from week 4-12. Fear she will die and I will be left with all this crap. Fear that none of it will be needed but must still be dealt with in her absence. I am sure many soon-to-hopefully-be-moms feel this way. I hate it. I would have rather waited until she was here to get anything…but my controlling nature fought that idea. I needed everything settled and ready, but I do not want to jinx this pregnancy either.

**sigh**

I know, I know. Everything will be fine. This is just a normal fear of pregnancy, perhaps especially for a “geriatric” pregnancy after infertility. I still must vent.

To counteract the internal strife…I just purchased a Hi Bebe BT-200T Fetal Monitor/Doppler.

Ugh.

Filed under: Spawnology

Weight Gain and A few tidbits not related to pregnancy…

Wildology — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 23:56:44 +0000

No one told me that you wake up with a small pregnant belly and by 9 pm you are HUGE!! Why does this happen? How does the belly shrink so much over night? So odd.

Well, I wanted to keep it to 25 lbs. That is just not going to happen. 30-35lbs. is the new goal and it is still semi-reasonable.

What I have noticed is that my lack of exercise has seriously impacted my cardiovascular health. Going back to the gym has made this even more obvious. Regardless that I am super excited for labor to actually get here and that I am not fearful of the event, I recognize the incredible athletic effort it will require. So, gym here I come…and I will keep going.

Week	Weight Gain Goal (25lbs/30lbs/35lbs)	My Weight
0	145.00	145.0
2	145.28	145.0
4	145.57	145.0
6	145.85	145.0
8	146.13	145.0
10	146.42	146.0
12	147.83	145.5
14	149.25	149.0
16	150.67	151.5
18	152.08	153.5
20	153.97	158.5
22	155.85	160.5
24	157.73/160.28/162.83	167.0 How did this happen in 2 weeks???
26	159.62 /162.54 /165.46
28	161.50 /164.80 /168.10
30	162.92 /166.50 /170.08
32	164.33 /168.20 /172.07
34	165.75 /169.90 /174.05
36	167.17 /171.60 /176.03
38	168.58 /173.30 /178.02
40	170.00 /175.00 /180.00

Six and a half pounds in 2 weeks?? The doctor said I am fine, but man, that freaked me out. It just doesn’t seem possible. Every 4 to 6 weeks I have a pretty big jump. I have a LONG time to go before the birthday, so I am hoping it will slow down to a trickle soon.

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On to some other topic:

Why is buying a mattress so hard?

The ones in the store all start to feel the same and we are petrified of bed bugs from beds on Craigslist!

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I am gearing up for class next week…and I am woefully unprepared. Should be interesting. I have finally started getting specimens ready for lab:

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Oh, and the hubby found a new hat:

Priceless.

Filed under: Fun Finds, General Snippets, Spawnology, Wildology

Where will you give birth??

Wildology — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 20:44:19 +0000

I came up with a gradient of options:

1) Hospital with OB

2) Hospital with OB and Doula

3) Hospital with Midwife and backup OB

4) Hospital with Midwife and backup hospitalist OB

5) Birth Center with Midwife

6) Homebirth with Midwife

7) Some rainforest hiding from jaguars…

For me, 6 and 7 are out, my granola only goes so far this first time around. Since I have been going to a traditional OB my whole life, and for the last year I have been seeing an OB who has helped me address my Infertility issues, I just assumed it would be #1. I trust and like my current OB, but I would be limited to #1 and #2 in a hospital with traditional American CS rates (30-40%: yikes!), a 90% episiotomy rate, and nurses not trained in un-medicated birth. Still, he was willing to meet all my requests (within reason and hospital policy).

Here is what I asked for from him:

-un-medicated (no pitocin [except for post-natal bleeding issues] or epidural or narcotics)

-no episiotomy (unless emergency)

-no induction until 10 days past my DD unless issues arise

-free to walk around/use birth ball/bar

-intermittent monitoring, no IV (Heplock is OK)

-no breaking my bag of waters

-free to eat and drink (soft foods and clear fluids)

-no placental traction

-cut cord after pulsing ceases

-No Hep vaccine

-breast feed within 30 minutes

-all baby work done in room/baby rooms-in

-shower soon after birth

Pretty standard hippie-ish protocol. He was cool with everything, but the hospital has eating and showering policies…and you are usually asked to get in bed 20 minutes of every hour for monitoring…and during transition/2nd stage labor.

After considering everything I wanted, it actually seemed like my desires fit better with a birthing center. Birthing centers are not all the same, though, and this is our first baby…so my fears surround something going wrong with the baby (not me).

Some birth centers are really just a wing of a hospital (not sure why they even call them BCs…nice rooms with tubs [not for last stage labor] but still in the labor wing). Some birth centers are separate buildings but on the hospital “campus”, so the distance to a NICU/ER is extremely short. Some birth centers are completely separate and require an ambulance or fast car ride to the hospital.

I started to get an itch that maybe I did not want to give birth in a hospital. I admit we watched “the business of being born” and “orgasmic birth”…and they definitely made me question things. The main questions I walked away with were

1) “Will I have enough support to get through an un-medicated birth at a hospital?” I think not.

2) “Will our baby be in any greater danger by giving birth in a birth center than a hospital?” If it is the right birth center, I think not.

So, I broke up with my OB last week and it went surprisingly well. The office was supportive but I can’t go back to them if I am gone longer than 6 weeks. I am 25 weeks pregnant now, so I can go back up until week 31. Why would I go back? If some crazy circumstance (baby problem) caused me to know I would have to have a CS, I would rather my OB do it. I doubt that will be a problem, though.

The birthing center is AWESOME!! The rooms are big and have been updated with comfy, stylish furniture (online pics are old). The tubs are huge and can be used for birthing. The transfer rate to the hospital is <10%, the episiotomy rate is <1%, and I can keep going to my OCD monitoring with a MFM doctor since I had the high AFP tests. If I had to be transferred (through an underground tunnel to the NICU!), the midwives would come with me and continue assisting me. Overall, I am totally excited and happy and am looking forward to it. That may be the Hypnobabies talking, though:)

Filed under: Spawnology

24 weeks and not much difference…

Wildology — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 15:34:19 +0000

These pictures are both 24 weeks and they are not much different from week 22 even though I weigh 3 more pounds. Don’t know if this shirt is going to go the distance, though!

Filed under: Spawnology

Things I never knew about pregnancy

Wildology — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 15:38:47 +0000

In general, I over-share. There is no such things as too gross, too personal, or too improper. Most of my friends tolerate this and often end up telling me things they would not normally volunteer…especially when I pointedly ask them:)

So, I thought I was quite well prepared for the grossness that is a/can be a preggo body. I knew about the bloat and gas and hemorrhoids and even the skin tags that seem to sprout from the Glands of Montgomery. (This is a new favorite term in our house right now. Try saying it in a loud announcers voice. Fun!)

Anyhoo…I have found there are just a few things that I was NOT prepared for during pregnancy.

1) I never expected to go almost 5 days with no bowelymotion. Holy cow.

2) I never expected my boobs to explode and the skin to turn all red and the pores to be all stretched and no bra to fit just right because they were expanding TOWARD MY ARMS! (think this only happens to women who started out as a C-cup or bigger)

3) In that same vein, I never expected my boobs to smell…and not a yummy-goodness kind of smell. Even with showers and powder, I still occasionally get a milky whiff. Disgusting.

4) I never expected strange, small milk-colored seed-like things to be on the ends of my nipples. I now scan the nipples in every shower and remove them gently…so weird. M says this is probably old gunky stuff being forced out of my ducts in preparation for milk flow. Joy.

5) …and how about the grunting. I grunt a lot. I can’t quite get enough air and so “grunt, grunt”. I think this may just be me, but I am continually made fun of by Mr. Ology.

Anyway, I was 24 week yesterday (picture later tonight) and she is growing perfectly. I have gained the maximum amount of weight (18 lbs) to stay on track for the 25-35 pounds, well realistically it will probably be 35 lbs. *sigh* Interestingly, my weight continues to climb regardless of how little/perfectly I eat. We are going back to the gym, though. Exercise is helping my sleep and my muscle tone…although the elliptical and some puny weights are all I can manage.

NEWS: I kind of broke-up with my OB’s office yesterday, in that, “It’s not you, It’s me” sort of way. We are opting for a stand-alone birth center in Annapolis, MD. SUPER EXCITED! More on that later.

Filed under: Spawnology

Back to life

Wildology — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 19:01:21 +0000

…back to reality. Lots of decisions, lots of projects, lots of work. The holiday was unusually relaxing, though. I got to stay here, go to SC, and visit home and lots of friends. It is amazing how quickly we can pick up right where we left off.

The roof is now fixed, the hole in the bathroom wall has been patched, and the nursery wall is being patched. The next big project is kitchen counters. We have decided to go with granite tile-DIY style. We have narrowed it down to these two color choices:

The plan is dark counters and white cabinets. The left tile is black with some reflecting flecks while the one on the right is more of a marbled look with some green overtones. I was leaning toward the green but now am waffling back toward the black. Our house is NOT modern though, so I am still unsure. We hope to have this project done in the next 3 months. Exciting!!

Decisions, decisions.

Filed under: Homestead

22 Weeks

Wildology — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 23:20:59 +0000

Whoa, big mama! Weight gain has slowed but is still constant. I am currently 160, which puts me about 4 pounds above where I would like to be…but I still feel good. I have been having more anxiety as we near the viable mark. I so, so hope she is ok in there.

–My back hurts a lot.

–I am having insomnia.

–I am always out of breath.

–I have finally started to feel her kick.

–I have nosebleeds regularly.

–I *think* we have a name. (I hope)

–We have started the nursery

–I have now read approximately 8 pregnancy books, 3 breast feeding books, and 3 sleep habit books…everyone has there opinions. I will do a recap later but boy is it interesting.

Peace.

Filed under: Spawnology

Gruyère gives me gas. mope and whine and other nonsense.

Wildology — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 19:50:06 +0000

Mope. Whine. It is my favorite cheese. Specifically Kaltbach. I love it but it does NOT love me…which makes the Hubs not like me too much either. Actually almost everything gives me gas now.

Christmas:

Christmas was WONDERFUL! I was totally spoiled with a newfangled Canon G12 (I may have cried a bit while opening it)…it is incredible and you will be seeing much better pictures after I figure all the buttons out. I also got a “new” engagement ring that blows all the others away. When I opened this ring I was in total shock. Those of you who know my husband understand why…he is thrifty? tight? cheap? a penny-pincher? All of those. So this was A LOT of money for him to spend. I bet I never see another Christmas so focused on me! I must admit, it was wonderful to feel so spoiled.

He received a Bowler hat, bongos, and a meat thermometer. It was fun to stay home and just enjoy each other and the holiday. Peaceful and Clarifying and Rejuvenating. It lasted about 36 hours…and then life and all its chaos resumed.

Now, a funeral and eulogy, a trip to Ktown for lots of work and a little play, to start Hypnobabies classes, prepare for 2 classes next semester and wrap up 2 major projects…all in the next month. Here we go!

science is magical

TOO COOL FOR SCHOOL

I have Stuff and Anxiety

Weight Gain and A few tidbits not related to pregnancy…

Where will you give birth??

24 weeks and not much difference…

Things I never knew about pregnancy

Back to life

22 Weeks

Gruyère gives me gas. **mope and whine** and other nonsense.

The halfway mark…

Gruyère gives me gas. mope and whine and other nonsense.