The Teething Fairy is NOT the Tooth Fairy!

Maisy, 4 months


The Teething Fairy is a bitch. She'll take your little happy-go-lucky sweetie and turn her into a grumpy pants. Poor little Maisy. :( Her two bottom teeth are coming in and she is having a really hard time with it.

In happier news Maisy rolled from her tummy onto to her back yesterday. She wouldn't do it a second time, but Rome wasn't built in a day, now, was it? She hates tummy time and I feel like I'm torturing her when I make her stay like that for a while, but it needs to be done.

On Friday we took Maisy to the pediatrician for her 4 month appointment and she'll doing very well. She's now 14lb, 8 oz, and 24 3/4"! We don't have to go back for 2 months and at that point they're going to tell us how to start giving her some solids. That's good, because she's starting to notice the foods we're eating.

Chances are I won't do another post before the holidays, so have a good one!!

4 months- it's about time for an update!

Tomorrow Maisy is 4 months old already! Despite the fact she is teething, Maisy is such a joy and we're having so much fun being parents. Looks like the last time I blogged was at 9 1/2 weeks and the biggest change since then is that she has been sleeping through the night in her crib. She usually goes down between 11-12 and wakes up around 7 or 8 to eat, then goes back to sleep for another one to three hours. This has been going on since she was 10 weeks old so we feel really lucky. When we go in and get her after she wakes up she is super smiley and happy and it's the best feeling. The world could be crumbling around us and it would make us smile. (Cheesy, I know, but that is truly the feeling.)
As for other developmental milestones, Maisy has just started to hold things a little bit. She can hold onto things for a while now before dropping them, and is starting to lift things to her mouth with both hands. She loves grabbing my necklaces and glasses and is now very interested in toys. Her other new thing is screaming, just because she can, which was kind of cute at first. That cuteness got old really fast, so now we're teaching her the word "No!" :-P
There are so many new things happening with Maisy everyday that I am having trouble remembering them all so I'll just list a few more. Grandma and Grandpa Fredericksen bought her a jumperoo and last night she realized she could jump in it (before she just stood and played with the toys). She isn't a pro yet, but it is so funny watching this 2 ft tall little person trying to jump up and down. I can't wait to get some video of it. Her little legs are getting so strong, and when we hold her arms, she can push herself up into standing position. She also tries to sit upright when she is laying down slightly.
I'm betting this blog is a bit scattered, but I rarely get a chance to type with 2 hands and I want to get as much down as I can before Yo Gabba Gabba is over. That show is our savior!
Ok. I'm about to go but before I do here are Maisy's stats from her 3 month dr. visit. We're bringing her for her 4 month check-up tomorrow so we'll see how much bigger she got. :-)

weight: 12lb, 13 oz
length: 23-3/4 in

If you haven't already seen them, check out the new youtube vids!

9 1/2 weeks

Well, it's been a while. I wish I would have been more motivated to post updates these past several weeks, so I'll try and make up for it now.
Things are going well over here and we're settling in. It now feels like Maisy has always been here. The first 4 weeks were kind of rough, but I think we've found our rhythm. Maisy has been cooing and smiling a lot for the past 3-4 weeks. She also holds her head up really well now, and can turn it from side to side without it flopping all over the place. This makes life a little easier for us. About 2 weeks ago she discovered her feet and when she sits on my lap while facing me, stares at them while she kicks and makes funny noises. She also discovered her hands a few days ago. She had been reaching out to touch our faces for a couple weeks, but about 3 days ago I caught her sussing out those strange things at the end of her arms. She's grabbing for stuff a lot more now, too, which is pretty fun, because she wasn't interested in toys at all until she discovered her hands. One of her other favorite things to do is stand while we hold her. She's got some pretty strong legs, that little one! She likes to sort of walk while being held, like a little marionette. She also loves to sit in her swing and stare at the plastic toys sitting on the tray in front of her. First she was obsessed with the zebra (Or is it a white tiger? This is up for debate). I laughed everytime I saw her staring at it because she wouldn't look away the entire time she was in the swing. She kind of looked at it like, "Who the hell are you and what do you want with me?" After about a week the zebra got boring and she's moved onto the giraffe who is in color. Sometimes I catch her cooing at it.
So that's what's been going on so far. We're having lots of fun with little Maisy (aka "Pickle"), and can't wait until she starts laughing and playing more.
Oh, I should mention that at our 4 week visit to the pediatrician she weighed in at 9 lb, 4 oz, and was still 21 inches. We've got another visit next Friday so hopefully I can get an update posted after that appointment.

Maisy- 3 week pic

She's Growing!

Just a quick update on Maisy. She had her first visit to the pediatrician on the 28th and is doing really well. She now weighs 8 lb 13 oz, and is 21 inches! That's almost 2 pounds heavier and 2.5 inches longer! She has definitely been eating well and looked bigger to us, but it was very comforting to see the actual growth in numbers. I'll add more pictures with the next posting.

youtube link

Maisy has her very own youtube page! Check back often for the most recent uploaded videos.
http://www.youtube.com/user/Maisydavis

Welcome, Maisy!

Well, after a hiatus from blogging (due to a baby who is quite fond of the boob), I'd like to introduce our beautiful little girl, Maisy Marie, born August 5th at 8:05 pm! Maisy was 7 pounds and 18.5 inches and is very alert. Her eyes were wide open since the morning after she was born. She's very mellow, so we consider ourselves lucky!

Here's the short version of what happened on Maisy's birthday:

Paul and I had our weekly visit to the obstetrician at 11am that day and were ready to duke it out with her again regarding a c-section. The baby was still breech and I was feeling unusually nervous, which I chalked up to having to deal with BS at the doctor's again. When the nurse took my blood pressure it was quite high. I will avoid going into the annoying details about that visit because if you've read previous posts, it's just more of the same. To make a long story short, due to the high blood pressure, we agreed to go to the hospital for monitoring and a blood panel testing for toxemia. After about 2-3 hours of monitoring, my blood pressure still hadn't gone down and one of the blood tests came back elevated. Since toxemia (preeclampsia) is so dangerous and could get worse in the snap of a finger, we decided that there was now a valid reason to have a cesarean. I was 3 days past the due date and was ready to fight for another week or so to see if the baby would turn or if I could at least go into labor first, but after a quick search on the internet about the situation, it was pretty clear that toxemia was nothing to mess around with. So, at 7:30 I went in for my spinal block and by 8:05 Maisy was born. She even pooped on the doctor who gave us so much grief the last several weeks of the pregnancy while she was being pulled out. Way to go, Maisy! So that is the short version of the story. I don't have time to write details about the surgery or hospital stay right now. Hopefully down the road I'll be able to write about that. As for now we're just trying to get used to being new parents and are taking it one day at a time.

2 days to go!

Before you read my latest rant I want to say I have reached the point where I am less worried about things like what kind of mother I'll be, how much life is going to change, etc, and purely excited about having this baby! I'm so excited to see her little face (though it feels less like a little face and more like a giant head considering she is breech and this head is right under my diaphragm!) and get to know her! Though we're getting antsy, we're taking things day by day now and trying to give her time to do what she needs to do in there and hope she'll want to join us soon.

On that note, due to laziness, I copied an email I wrote to a friend about our latest obstetrician saga rather than write up a whole new blog. Here it is below:

Still breech. Still only dilated a fingertip (for 2 weeks now, though slightly more effaced every week but nothing to write home about yet). Still fighting with doctor. Yesterday we went through the same old shit except this time she stepped up her fear tactics and threw in a little guilt for good measure. She said, "Let me ask you this. What happens if the cord prolapses or there are other cord issues and the baby ends up with brain damage or stillborn? Wouldn't you feel guilty??" Gee, thanks Lady! I'm not 40 weeks pregnant or anything and that wouldn't happen to be a sensationally rude thing to say to a pregnant woman, would it? Paul and I have done mucho research and found out that unless you have a footling breech, you don't have any more chances of the cord prolapsing than someone who is having a vaginal birth. (And this can only occurr if your water breaks). On the subject of her turning let me point out another inconsistency the doctor said. I told her I have found out about a load of cases where the babies have turned well past 39 weeks, some even after labor set in (which she dismissed as "impossible"). So she says it's impossible because the baby has no room to move, yet yesterday when I said it looks like things are still good because the baby is still in a non-dangerous breech presentation (no feet are down near the cervix), she said "but the baby could change position when in labor and the feet could end up there." But wait! Since 37 weeks she has been telling us that the baby is never going to turn and it is impossible for the baby to change position while in labor. Oh! I guess that's only when it's convenient for her to use that information. She keeps telling us she prefers planning things and prefers to do c-sections under controlled circumstances which is why she wants us to schedule. Though as "urgently" (I use quotes because both the baby and I are perfectly healthy at the moment so there are no issues to warrent the surgery at this time) as she wants to schedule a c-section, she doesn't do them on Fridays or weekends. So it's really just all about convenience for her. I like to plan things too, but perhaps planning a birth shouldn't be taken as lightly as planning a party or vacation? Two more things I should mention that didn't sit right with me. First, when she asked what the point was in waiting to do a cesarean I said, "Well, for one, I don't think she is ready to come out yet, and also I would like to see if I can go into labor first. 'The Mayo Clinic Guide to a Healthy Pregnancy' says that there is a hormone exchange that goes on between the mother and baby when you go into labor that prepares the baby to regulate its own blood sugar once detached from the palcenta, as well as help it breathe, and also reduce the stress of coming into the world." (Think about it... if you're in this nice, warm place for 9-10 months and then all of a sudden you're ripped out and in this completely different environment without any sort of preparation or forewarning, wouldn't you freak out?) When I brought this up she got annoyed and made a comment, something about how she wishes they wouldn't have written that. Why? So people can't get the information and use it to protect themselves and will just go along with any old junk they are being told? Then the other thing that didn't sit right with me is how she pointed out that she was documenting how we kept declining the "opportunity" for an "elective" c-section. Yeah, more quotes. Go ahead! Document it! But telling us that seemed like another fear tactic; almost a threat. I'm not loving or appreciating having to fight so hard for my baby to be able to stay in the womb when there is no medical reason she shouldn't be able to. It's just too tiring right now. I know people think I am being stubborn (including the doctor who told me so yesterday), but Paul and I didn't take deciding to get pregnant lightly, so why would we take the way our baby is to be born lightly?

Why second opinions are good to have

Note: The following section was written on 7/18. I was too lazy to finish it that day but saved it as a draft and will follow up with more recent events after.


On Wednesday ( 7/16) Paul and I went to our OB for my weekly check-up and to discuss with her what happened at the hospital on Monday night (7/14). She didn't give us much hope that we'd be able to wait out getting a c-section, and I left still feeling disappointed in the whole process, especially since she wanted us to schedule the cesarian for next Thursday (7/24), the day before she was going on vacation. She said it was because she was afraid the cord would prolapse if I went into labor and then she wouldn't be there to do the surgery. However, it felt to me like we were at the mercy of what was convenient to her. When we got home I decided to find a midwife to get a second opinion from. I figured it was better to get a second opinion from a midwife rather than another OB because the midwife had no agenda other than giving us all sides of the issue. OB's seem to be c-section crazy these days (we can blame this on a lawsuit crazy country as well as convenience for the OB's) so all you seem to get from them are reasons why it's better to schedule the procedure asap rather than wait it out. They love to throw out fear-based information to scare you into the procedure. So we went and talked with the midwife this morning (7/18) and she explained to us that since the baby has no history of problems, I have no health problems, the baby is in a breech presentation that is not dangerous, and the placenta is in a good spot, there is no real risk to wait until going into labor before getting a c-section. This is important to me because I feel that the baby should stay in and "cook" there as long as she feels necessary (ok, within reason), and this will also give her more time to possibly turn head down, something which our OB is constantly telling us is impossible at this stage. No exceptions. Paul and I have done our research. We know that the chances of babies turning head down after 37 weeks are even slim. The odds are against us, but the odds were against us having a breech baby too (only about 3%), so I like to think maybe it's possible. I have heard lots of stories of babies turning after the mother is in labor. Perhaps if OB's weren't so quick to schedule cesarians they might find that more babies would turn? Maybe only 99.5% or 99% of babies would be breech? How will we ever know if nobody is allowed to go past 39 weeks with a breech, let alone allowed to go into labor?

7/25 Update:

We last went to our OB on the 21st and had a talk with her. The midwife we saw last week gave us a list of questions to ask her and it went pretty well. She still wanted to schedule a cesarian early but we told her we wanted to take it week to week. Apparently it can be dangerous if the baby's feet end up down instead of up (footling breech presentation) because she could stomp the cord out if the cervix is dialted. This is the one instance where the midwife suggested it might be better to go ahead and have a cesarian before going into labor first. As of our last check-up, the baby's feet were still up. She seems to be going between frank breech presentation (both feet up by the head) and complete breech presentation (feet crossed in the middle) so we're just having our OB check it out from week to week. At the moment I am wondering if this baby is ever going to come out. It seems I spent the whole pregnancy up to this point thinking she was going to come early and now that I'm a week away from the due date it seems like she will want to stay in there forever. So for those who have been asking, not much seems to be going on other than me getting larger. The Mave is still breech and I still spend most of my day emptying my bladder. Will keep y'all posted.

Stick Your Scalpel Where the Sun Don't Shine!

If you've read the last post you know we were scheduled to go to the hospital Monday night for an ECV. I was asked not to eat or drink anything for 8 hours prior so we were to be there at 5:30 so I could get prepped and properly hydrated via IV fluids for a 6:00pm appointment. Things were a bit backed up and we had to fill out a bunch of forms so I don't believe we got into the room until at least 6:30ish. Man was I thirsty! The nurse asked me to put on a hospital gown. Now, we're not rocket scientists or anything but it really shouldn't have taken us a whole 10 minutes to figure out how to put the damn thing on. I was definitely a team effort. It's a weird shape and none of the buttons are together and, trust me, those gowns will make you feel like a real dummy when the nurse doesn't even warn you about assembling them. So it's 6:40 now. I get into the bed and the nurse ("nurse #1") doesn't start me on an IV. She has me laying on my back and starts monitoring the baby's heart rate, as well as any contractions I may be having. I keep thinking any minute now I am going to get some damn hydration. She goes through this LONG list of questions about my medical history and then when she gets to the end asks me if I've been having contractions lately and I say no. She said,"No? Because you've just had about 5." I didn't feel any of them. She says she is going to hook me up to an IV and I will also have to get a shot to stop the contractions if I want the ECV. She leaves the room, to get the IV I am hoping, and doesn't come back for a while. It's now 6:50. Still no IV, still no perinatologist to come and turn the baby. What the hell is going on? Nurse #1 comes back in the room and says that it is the end of her shift (gee we couldn't tell) so another nurse will be coming, but she spoke with my OB and she is not happy because, during one of the contractions the baby's heart rate dropped a bit. She says because of that the OB wanted to do a C-section. Are you kidding me lady? I don't have a medical degree but I know from the pregnancy books I have read that if you are having contractions one of the things you do is drink lots of water incase you are dehydrated, and you get off your back and lay on your left side. If nurse #1 would have hydrated me before monitoring, I'm pretty sure this blog would be different. Enter Nurse #2. Nurse #2 was the best part of the whole useless experience. She cared and knew exactly what she was doing. The first thing she did was administer the IV and tell me to turn on my left side. She said she called the perinatologist and he wasn't happy about the short dip in the baby's heart rate and probably wouldn't try and turn her. At this point I am pretty upset. Nurse #1 got me so paranoid about heart rates, contractions, and c-sections that I started to shut down. So I am on the IV and we wait around for the perinatologist. It's about 8:10 and there is still no sign of him. We really liked this guy and were very upset that he just didn't bother showing up. His office is right across the street and he didn't even bother making the 5 minute walk to check in. Yeah thanks for that. So wonderful nurse#2 comes in and says she is going to try to get us out of there. She said we have a very healthy baby and there is no reason why we shouldn't be able to leave. My contractions had stopped once I got hydrated and placed on my side. She calls the OB. All of a sudden the phone in the room rings and it's the nurse saying when she hangs up our OB will be on the line. I see nurse #2 come in and mouth to me (with an appauled look on her face), "She wants to section you tonight." I mouth back, "THAT'S RIDICULOUS. NO WAY!" Summary of the conversation Paul had with the OB:

OB: I want to do a cesarian.
Paul: Why? The baby is healthy and Gina isn't having contractions. She was only having contractions because she hasn't eaten or drank since 10am and she was on her back for an hour. Can't the baby still turn on her own?
OB: No she won't turn on her own.
Paul: Why won't she turn on her own?
OB: Well, the baby is really big.
Paul: No, she is really small.
OB: No, she's 7 pounds.
Paul: No, she's tiny. She's only 5 pounds.
OB: Well she has to come out sometime.

Ok, WHAT? Really? She has to come out? No shit, Einstein! But no way were we going to let a healthy baby who has 3 weeks left to cook get cut out of me before she is ready. You're going to have to give us a damn good reason other than "Well she has to come out sometime" before you come near me with that damn scalpel, lady. So disheartening. I thought we had an amazing OB but right now it looks like she is just another part of the baby business, ready and willing to make me another statistic of our awful c-section rate here in the US. At around 8:30-8:45 I eventually got discharged. So I spent the whole day, 9 months pregnant and not able to eat or drink even water, only to get an IV shoved in my arm, my ass hang out of some weird assemble yourself sheet, and some random woman's fingers up my hoo-hah, just to walk out of there disheartened by doctors, with god knows how much less money in our pockets, and a baby that is still breech. What we did leave with is a sense of control over our sitation and, believe you me, a couple doctors are sure going to get an earful today.

37 Weeks- Long Post Alert!

Almost there! I am in awe at how fast pregnancy has gone. Where did the time go?

So on the 9th I went to the OB and she confirmed my suspicion that, although the baby had turned head down at 24 weeks, she was back to her old ways and in breech position. I think this happened around 33 weeks because I noticed I was feeling hiccups much higher in my abdomen. At the appointment the OB did a very short ultrasound and, sure enough, there was that big ol' head right side up (or, shall I say, wrong side up). I am not sure how she came up with the weight estimate, but she thought the baby was somewhere around 6.5 - 7 pounds, which is fairly large for 37 weeks. She seemed very urgent in getting us back to the fetal specialist who did all the major ultrasounds throughout the pregnancy, as he can perform a procedure called "External Cephalic Version" (ECV) which is a fancy way of saying turning the baby from the outside. We went on Friday morning and the first thing they did was an ultrasound to make sure there was no medical reason the baby had turned breech (eg: umbilical cord was restricting movement, not enough amniotic fluid, etc). Turns out the baby just turned because she is actually quite petite and, well, she could. She loves to move and decided she wanted to stare the world in the face right side up. So my OB was quite wrong in her estimation of size. The baby is just over 5 pounds right now. How anything from Paul and I could be referred to as "petite" is beyond me! How did that happen? Back to the visit on Friday. After the ultrasound the doctor decided to try a practice run to see if the Mave might respond to the ECV. He put one hand at the bottom of my abdomen and lifted her up, out of the pelvis while using his other hand to try and manipulate her from the top. He explained that what usually happens is the baby kicks its feet and then uses that motion to turn itself around. Mave did kick her feet, so he thinks there is a possibility she might turn, but he wasn't laying it on as heavy as he does during the full procedure. If you can imagine someone digging their fingers into you as hard as they can and moving them around without releasing pressure, then you can understand why I have black and blue marks on my abdomen. Since the baby has started to descend into the pelvis already, on Monday evening we go into the hospital (they do it there incase the baby goes into distress and they have to do an emergency cesarian, but that only happens about 1% of the time) and he will try the same thing, only with more force, three times, for a minute each time. They offer epidurals for this, but I declined. A needle in my back for 3 minutes of bad pain? No thanks. If the procedure works, we will hope the baby doesn't turn again. It works about 70% of the time. There was some mention from my OB about inducing labor early if she turns so she doesn't go breech again, but we will decline and go with the flow. If the doctor can't turn her then we'll wait until 39 weeks to see if she turns on her own. If that doesn't happen they like to schedule cesarians for breech babies at that time. Supposedly it's safer than going into labor and then having an emergency one. We need to read up on this one some more. I'm not sure if scheduling a c-section a week before the due date is actually going to make much of a difference, and it sort of takes away the opportunity for her to turn on her own until she is ready. You never know when you'll go into labor. We'll do some investigating before agreeing to schedule one at 39 weeks. We'll keep you posted! Keep those fingers and toes crossed!

35 Week Special: Ham hands & hot hobbit feet in a pool of saliva

I can't claim to be feeling terrible, even 5 weeks from our due date, but I do have a few ailments I'm sure you're all dying to know about. Let's start with the ham hands. After a bit of a nervous "episode" on Friday, Paul decided I needed to get out of the city so we spent the day up in Santa Barbara. It was much cooler there than by our house, but I couldn't escape the swelling of the hands and feet. After dipping my feet in the cold ocean water they felt a lot better, but my hands didn't. My fingers swell up and the palms of my hands turn odd shades of red and white. Not pretty, and, thanks to Paul, the phenomenon is now known as "ham hands." These ham hands have gone from the 6 rings I normally wear to one $5 oversized faux silver band on my wedding finger. I tried to make my wedding band work, but sayonara! No dice. In addition I have achey finger joints all day long, which is supposedly due to excess fluids hanging around my digits. Along with the arthritic ham hands I have NHFS (Nightly Hot Foot Syndrome). This is annoying as hell, especially for Paul I reckon, because the only thing that cools them down is a foot massage. Even with the inevitable soothing foot massage, I could do without the NHFS, thank you. What could possibly make all this better? An endless supply of saliva! Where is all this excess saliva coming from? I can't stop drooling, especially when I sleep. This afternoon I fell asleep and woke up with a giant pool of drool on my arm, with more dripping from the side of my mouth. I wiped it off, dozed off again, and it was like I never wiped away the first lot. While all this is going on, Mave is tucked away in there getting her beauty rest in preparation for her arrival. Then she can pick up with the drooling where I left off.

33 weeks- 7 weeks to go!

They aren't kidding when they say you grow fast towards the end.

The ginormity of the side view.

Frontal view. Bit caught off guard in this picture.

Sliders

The novelty of maternity pants has worn off. Now, I have never been happy when it came to shopping for pants. I've got a real disability with a waist that is too small for my thighs. Before pregnancy, pants fell into two categories for me: A) too tight in the leg, just right in the waist, or B) just right in the leg, too loose in the waist. Yep. I would spend a lot of time at the mall avoiding pant shopping. I was certain pregnancy would be different since I would be dealing with an anti-waist. How wrong was I?? I don't know that it would matter if my thighs DIDN'T fall into the "more to love" category. These pants would still suck. It seems as though I spend every 3-5 minutes yanking them back up to my boobs, only to have them fall back down again in a matter of seconds. What is with the constant sliding? Women have been wearing pants for years and years now. You'd think someone would learn how to make a pair of maternity pants that don't slide. Actually, I am sure they do. J-Lo had to wear something other than muu muus, right? I'm sure they're $500 a pair and, thus, will never be clinging to these thighs. Oh well. I guess trousers and I were just not made for one another, pregnant or not.

32 Weeks

Once again I find myself a textbook case in the last trimester. I can't stop cleaning and organizing, and all I really want to do is get the house in order and "make room for baby". The Mave's room is finally painted and her crib is up! The closet fittings were pretty useless in her room, so we are going to get new stuff to install in there this weekend. Paul also built the toybox that Aunt Laura sent. :) Between that and the closet being finished shortly I can actually start putting things away in Mave's room. We ordered the rest of her furniture 2 weeks ago, when I was 10 weeks away from our due date. Of course they told us it would take 10 weeks for it to get here. Typical. As long as we have a crib and butt wiping supplies we should be fine if she decides to arrive early, but it would be nice if everything came early so I could have the room completely ready and not have to worry about finishing things when she is already here. Speaking of finishing things, I've also finished designing the birth announcements and have all the envelopes addressed and ready to be stuffed. I figured this was the only way they would actually go out and now all I will have to do is add the correct info on the mock-up and print them out, which may be easier said than done with a newborn. I've just gotten 2 very hard kicks in the abdomen. I'm taking this as a sign that someone down there is sick of hearing my stomach growl and I should go eat breakfast.

30 week belly pic

If your imagination is as warped as mine you might think my boobs and stomach look like a face, with the boobs being the 2 eyes, of course.

30 Weeks

10 weeks to go. Oh dear. I partially want to fast forward to the moment the Mave is born, while partially wanting to hit pause thinking about how everything is going to change. It's a whirlwind of mixed emotions, but both Paul and I are well up for the challenge of being parents. At this point we'd better be, right?
In preparation, we're taking some classes in a few weeks. Last night we went to an orientation at Encino-Tarzana hospital, where we're having the baby. I'd heard so many great things about the birthing center at this hospital that I decided I wanted to give birth there, despite there being a decent hospital 5 minutes down the road. Encino-Tarzana hospital is a 20 minute drive on the freeway, which could end up being longer if the Mave happens to decide rush hour is a good time to start her journey out. I'm not worried about giving birth in 30-40 minutes or anything (that would just be wishful thinking). I'm just trying to imagine what fantastical cuss words will be flying out of my mouth if stuck in traffic AND in labor. I'll probably have to write a whole new dictionary after the experience.
So back on track, we went to the orientation, sat in a room of very pregnant women shoving cheesecake into their gobs (afterthought: why did I opt for the cookie when I could have had the cheesecake?), and watched a slide show. Then they had a raffle. I know Paul was terribly upset to not win one of the daddy diaper bags, but I made up for it when I won a 20-pack of diapers! I won! And these ain't no storebought diapers; these are hospital grade absorbancy, baby! It says so on the packaging.
Anyway... the hospital is great (as far as hospitals go). They have an entire wing devoted to birthing, and it didn't seem stale like hospitals often do. The labor & delivery rooms are large and have beds made specifically for birthing (the bottom portion can be removed, making it easier for the OB to deliver the baby), and a bathroom with a sit down shower. There is also a warmer and bath center so the baby can stay with you after birth instead of having to get bathed in another room. After recovering for about an hour in the delivery rooms, you go to the postnatal room. These rooms are all singles!! YAY! No having to share a bathroom with a stranger (one of my least favorite things to do). They even have sleeper chairs so I don't have to worry about Paul being uncomfortable. So it looks like this hospital is well deserving of all the hype.
The Mave is doing well. Not much has changed since last week. I'll try to get an updated belly picture up in the next week.

29 Weeks

Things are looking pretty good here at 29 weeks. We went to the perinatologist yesterday for our third trimester ultrasound and the baby is doing great. All her organs, blood flow, and brain function look good, and she is now 2-1/2 pounds, which is pretty textbook at this point. I am feeling pretty good but can tell the energy is starting to fade a bit. It's not too bad yet, and I'm just trying to listen to my body and go with the flow. I never received that dreaded phone call saying I had to do the longer version of the glucose tolerance test, so looks like I'm negative for gestational diabetes. Yay! I'm off but I leave you with some pics of the Mave from yesterday's ultrasound. She's got chubby cheeks and her daddy's lips! (Click on the pictures for larger versions.)

Hiccups

26 weeks today and I felt hiccups for the first time! Paul and I bought a device that comes with earphones and amplifies the sounds in your belly. It was only $20, so it's nothing even close to the doppler the doctor uses. We can't hear the heartbeat through it yet, but we can hear kicks and various rumblings. She kicked me so hard it hurt a couple times after dinner so we thought we'd give her a listen and the random kicks suddenly turned into light, steady movements. I started to get a little worried someone planted a bomb in my abdomen when I wasn't looking until it occurred to me it was hiccups. Kind of cute! After they went away she resumed kicking the crap out of me.
As for the glucose tolerance test, I still haven't had it. I fasted all night last Sunday and Monday morning only to get to the lab and be turned away because the loopy nurse at our OB's office wrote the order up wrong. The lab called to get the correct info but since it was a Jewish holiday the office was closed. I was not a happy camper because between the heartburn (I wasn't sure if Tums were ok to take while you were fasting), middle of the night starvation (ever been pregnant? You may know what I'm talking about), and all the water this veinless wonder had to drink all night to be hydrated enough for veins to MAYBE put out (translation= I had to piss every 15 minutes), I didn't get much sleep. The good news is that the mistake was sort of in my favor because originally the order was for a 3 hour test when really it was just supposed to be a one hour test. If I fail the one hour test I will have to do the longer one anyway, but let's keep our fingers crossed. Enough babbling about playing pincushion.
We took down all the furniture in the guest bedroom and are now waiting to recover from property tax time. I hope those sonsabitches are proud of themselves, taking the money from a poor, helpless baby's nursery fund. Bastards.
I leave you with that.

25 Weeks

Well it's my last week in the 2nd trimester, folks. Apart from all the sinus issues, I really didn't have too many complaints the past 2 months. Rumor has it it all goes downhill from here. We'll see. I am hoping working out will help with the aches and pains associated with pregnancy in the next 3 months, but who am I kidding here? There's probably a reason you never see really pregnant women on the elliptical, and I am already having a tough time cramming my bump in some of the resistance machines. Luckily it's almost pool time, and I may just not come out all summer. If you need me that's where I'll be. Get this woman a giant floating chair and some water pillows! I might look like a prune by birth, but at least I'll have spent my last 3 months in a cool way and not a cranky, sweaty, swelled up mass of flesh.

On with the Mavis update... she is kicking like crazy, and I can tell you our daughter is no wimp! I think when it first started happening I said she felt like an eel swimming around in my belly. Forget that. There is nothing swimming anymore. These are clearly the kicks and punches of a creature trapped in a small space. I still can't tell which way she is turned, and which kicks/punches are feet or hands. Maybe our ultrasound on May 15th will shed some light on that. Last week Paul decided to put his head on my belly and got a kick to the head. He said he could hear the movements. I guess that's one thing he can experience that I can't during pregnancy because I don't see myself becoming a contortionist anytime soon.

On Monday I go for the standard glucose tolerance test to check for gestational diabetes. Not looking forward to being a pin cushion, which is what people with tiny collapsing veins like me have become accustomed to. Not fun, and after about 16 hours of not being able to consume anything but water (and that nasty sugary syrup they make you drink), you'd better believe this pregnant lady is going to be heading over to Taco Bell on the way home. I'll try and update on Monday about how it all went.

23 Weeks

I haven't written lately because, other than a few varicose veins and slighly larger belly, not much has changed. The heat has subsided, so no swelling. Yay. The baby's movements are getting stronger, but are still sporadic. The oddness of feeling some sort of alien movement going on in my abdomen is gone and now it's purely exciting and feels more like genuine kicks and punches. Remind me I was excited about those the day I write and complain about getting kicked in the ribs.
Over the weekend we bought a crib, and I actually made a decision on paint color. I made a decision! What a feat these days. It really was ridiculous how long it took me to decide between slightly different shades of green, but we have a winner, and in 2 weeks we're going to start moving the furniture and getting ready to paint the nursery. In the meantime the closet is housing the crib bedding, a dozen or so cute outfits, and a few blankets and stuffed animals waiting to be put in place. I can't wait to get the rest of the furniture picked out and everything set up. Maybe then it will sink in that there really is a person living in my belly and the roundness is not just the product of too many tacos.

21 Weeks

It's hot here and I noticed last night at dinner that my oh, so comfy heels were not oh, so comfy anymore. Due to said heat, when I took my shoes off I noticed lots of marks because my feet had swelled up slightly. Great, here we go with the swelling. We are having an unusually hot spring and I have a feeling this is the beginning of a long, hot summer. I know the folks back home are swearing under their breath at me because they just had a spring blizzard, but for those who don't know what "long hot summer" means in San Fernando Valley terms, it means temperatures of 100+ every single day (by 100+ I mean anywhere from 103 to around 112), no rain, rare clouds. It sounds lovely, but consider being pregnant and having 2 extra months of this summer tacked on. Not that we will get 100+ quite yet. Right now it is about 90. If you need to reach me this summer I will be floating like a giant whale in the pool.
My fingers are swelling too, so I decided it was in my best interests to say a temporary goodbye to my engagement ring. I am a sentimental fool and didn't want to take it off, but I figure it's better than having to get it cut off of my finger at some point. My wedding band is slightly bigger so we'll see how long that lasts.
Now onto the fun stuff! I saw the baby move from the outside of my belly for the first time today, and Paul was able to feel some light kicks. It really just looks like my belly pulsates every so often but it's really exciting. I've been looking forward to this part of pregnancy and I'm glad it's finally here. I'm glad Paul can finally share in a little bit of the fun too.

20 Weeks- Halfway through!

Yep, it's happening. She's growing. Just 2 weeks ago the maternity pants were slightly too large and now, despite having lost a pound since then, they're the only pants I can fit into in the gut area. Today I got a pair of maternity pants that are so comfortable I will be sad to give them up after pregnancy. Goodbye rubber banded buttons and zippers that only go up halfway and hello elastic, stretch waistbands! Life is good.

In other exciting news I can now feel the baby. The first time I felt her was the day I was 19 weeks along. At first the movements were scarce and light, but every couple of days they get stronger and more frequent. As I'm writing this I've been kicked just under the belly button twice. Sometimes they actually feel like little kicks, but mostly it feels like an eel is swimming around in there. I haven't heard anyone else describe it that way, but it makes sense to me.

Now that we're halfway through the pregnancy, Paul and I decided it's time to start figuring out what we need to make this baby at home so we went to Babies R Us on Saturday and registered. We're not completely done, but we've picked out all the important stuff and then some. Pretty soon we'll start on the nursery at which point I hope to have figured out how to post pictures on this thing.

Happy Easter and Spring!

FYI- This was actually posted on the 18th, not the 13th. That date was from an old draft.

Move over Ginger Ale, make room for Buckler!

Got an email from my friend Stephanie the other day reminding me about something I would have never given thought to before pregnancy... non-alcoholic beer. Let's face it, pre-pregnancy I would almost never choose beer over liquor, and frankly, I like alcohol in my alcoholic beverages (sorry, but I don't believe 0.5% counts- if you do, read the statistics here and feel better http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/FetalAlcoholSyndrome.html) I thought I kicked the beer craving but last night I saw some people drinking beer on Three Sheets (a funny show about drinking on Mojo HD) and it was all over. Paul offered to go to the store and get some of Stephanie's recommendations, one of which was Buckler. I was a little skeptical, wondering if it would taste like the real deal. When he got back and I took the first sip I was in non-alcoholic beer heaven! Thanks Buckler. Now I can kick back with a cold one and relax. Sigh...

19 weeks

Today we had our second trimester ultrasound. The doctor said everything looks great. The organs, blood flow, and size of the baby are all just as should be at this point. Right now "the Mave" weighs 9 ounces, and once again they confirmed it's a girl. That's good because I couldn't help but buy some cute girly clothes after the last ultrasound.
We don't have any great pictures of the baby right now because she was sleeping, but I'll post them later anyway once they're scanned in. She was pretty cute, resting the right side of her head on the placenta like it was a pillow.
As for mommy, I feel great. No more fatigue or major symptoms, and even the cravings have subsided a bit (except for pickles... I just can't get rid of that one). My belly is growing by the day, and though I haven't graduated into maternity pants yet (they are still slightly too loose), I have had to use the rubber band expansion trick on most of my pants. Now I'm just waiting 'til I can distinguish the baby moving from gas! Not as easy as it sounds. I will let you know when I can tell for sure. :D

Ginger Ale

I'd like to take a brief moment to give props to my favorite pregnancy beverage, Ginger Ale. Not only has it relieved my nausea time and time again, but it's the closest thing I'm going to get to a beer any time soon! Thank you, Ginger Ale!

17 Weeks- Adventures in Cravings

I'm not much of a blogger unless there is a purpose, and thanks to my friend Jenny, I've decided pregnancy is about as purposeful as it can get. Since most friends and family are far away, I figure this is a good way to keep everyone updated on the pregnancy.

So on with it then...

Right now we're 17 weeks along (Paul is pregnant too, you know) and the baby is doing well. For those of you that don't already know, "Mavis" is a girl. Mavis is just a nickname, by the way. We don't think our daughter would be very happy about having a name that rhymes (a la Julia Gulia), so we're currently trying to narrow down a list of possible replacements. :)

As for the pregnancy the very annoying first trimester fatigue has pretty much worn off and so has the nausea for the most part, though I was never as nauseous as a lot of pregnant women I know. Now onto the new/continuing symptoms: forgetfulness, indecisiveness, and cravings. I think I would forget my own head if it weren't attached to my body. It really is amazing how mentally challenged I am at the moment. Along with this comes the inability to make a decision, no matter how small. Don't anybody invite me to a wedding anytime soon because the chicken or beef option would send me into a dither. Really, that was a bad example because it seems I am having an aversion to chicken (fried or bacon-wrapped excluded) . The idea of touching or smelling a raw chicken breast is vile. Can't do it since I've been pregnant. You think none of this makes sense? Join the club! Here's another puzzler. I never liked beer but right now I would give my right arm for an icy cold hefeweitzen! I don't really miss any other alcohol too much (no offense my lovely friend champagne), and beer would have been my last choice before pregnancy, but it's my first choice now. Other frequent cravings are cantaloupe, strawberries, hot sauce, vinegar, pickles, olives, cream cheese, french fries and pizza. I suppose by the looks of it I mainly need salt and vinegar. During the first trimester I had a huge craving for red velvet cupcakes, but let's face it, it was that cream cheese frosting I really needed.

So there you have it, my first blog. Our next ultrasound is on March 7th and they'll be looking closely at the baby's heart, brain, etc. For those of you that missed out, here is the link to the video recorded at the last ultrasound, around 14 weeks: http://youtube.com/watch?v=xTxt4XPPzmk