It is no surprise that today is a big day for me and I'm a big ball of nerves. Today marks 32 weeks in my pregnancy with baby boy #2...which is the same day in my pregnancy with Sam when I went into pre-term labor. After 3 days of terrifying and agonizing labor, Sam arrived at 4 lb and 8 oz.
Last Thursday we had the final "growth ultrasound" of baby boy #2 and found out that he weighed 3 lb, 11 oz - which is 42nd percentile which is totally normal. It also means that now he's probably closing in on 4 lbs. Everything looked great in last week's ultrasound and my doctors have been very happy with the baby's progress. Although they are continuing to monitor things closely, they have no reason to believe that I will go into early labor again. But, they still have no idea what caused me to go into early labor with Sam either - for some reason that will forever be unknown, my water began to slowly leak on that eventful Saturday morning March 21, 2009.
I'm not going to repeat the details of what happened that day, but if you've never read or heard my birth story - here is the blog I wrote about Sam's early birth.
I still struggle to understand why he came early. Did I eat something I shouldn't have eaten? Was I not taking it easy? Was I working too hard and not getting enough rest? Why did it happen?
My doctor has assured me time and time again that there is nothing I could have done differently and they don't know why he came early. I had seen my doctor 4 days before I went into labor and everything was perfectly normal - sometimes these things just happen and there's no explanation. I hate that answer. I hate not knowing why and not being able to fix it for a future pregnancy. Even though I know I shouldn't, part of me will always wonder why...
For weeks I've had my eyes glued to the calendar for the 32 week marker - and now that it's here, I want to take a moment to truly appreciate the miracle that is Sam and how incredibly grateful I feel to have such a smart, sweet, loving, funny, and energetic little boy. He is absolutely amazing and a blessing. I know that a baby born at 32 weeks can thrive...but that doesn't mean I'm ready to go into labor just yet.
Message to Baby boy #2 - STAY IN THERE! Even though your mama and brother aren't exactly the most patient people, it is not yet time for you to venture into the world!
My goal is to make it to at least March 1, at which point I will be 36 weeks along. Although my due date is not until March 28, I will be very very happy if baby boy #2 is born anytime during March.
So anyway, if you talk to me at all this week - I apologize in advance if I seem a bit tense. It's a big week for me and I'm feeling very emotional and extremely nervous. I'm just trying to stay positive and take it one day at a time. And I'm remembering to breathe. Whew!
Thank you in advance for all of the support you all have given us during the recent challenges in my pregnancy. I know I've fallen behind on email and I apologize, but I do appreciate all of the amazing people in my life - I am so blessed to have such a terrific circle of support!
Monday, January 31, 2011
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Reflecting back on my 3 trips to Egypt & Jordan
Having been to Egypt 3 times, I've been very interested in the Cairo protests (perhaps beginning of a revolution?). Although the protests in Jordan aren't getting nearly the same news coverage as the protests in Egypt, Jordanians have also taken to the streets for the past 3 days demanding that their prime minister resigns. For example, check out this article about the Jordanian protests. I've been to Jordan 3 times too. Other than Israel & Mexico, I've been to Egypt and Jordan more frequently than any other country.
Although I haven't been to either country since 2007, I am particularly compelled by these protests given my travels in Egypt & Jordan. I feel connected to both countries and have an understanding of each country's culture - as much as an American Jewish tourist can have.
Both countries are so so different than the U.S. You literally cannot walk 10 feet in Jordan without seeing pictures of the king EVERYWHERE. It is a poor country, the cars are older, the houses mostly look run-down The major city of Amman is overcrowded.
The biggest tourist attraction in Jordan is Petra, the home of the famous rock architecture and the rock Treasury. Most Americans have seen it in the Indiana Jones Last Crusader movie or in Arabian Nights.
Jordan is a country of contradictions as well. It was extremely common to see a fully covered woman on the beach with her young children in bathing suits. Unlike Israel, where observant men dressed as modestly as women, most the men on the beach dress like any westerner would.
When we were last there 3 years ago, we spent a few days relaxing at a Red Sea resort in Aqaba, Jordan. The hotel was a gorgeous 5 star resort - that was about $50/night.
We were literally 500 feet from the Israel/Jordan border abutting the Israeli Red Sea resort town of Eilat - where the same type of hotel would have easily been $500/night. Shows you the difference between the western Israeli economy and the struggling Jordanian economy.
When we were there in 2007, we flew from Aqaba Jordan to Cairo, Egypt. We were very nervous when our hotel assured us that we should leave at 8am for our 9am international flight on the day of our departure and the airport was at least 20 minutes away. We arrived at the airport with 30 minutes to spare and ended up making it through intense security in about 10 minutes - a far cry from airports in the U.S. While checking in for our flight our passports were checked no less than 6 times each, including before our van even entered the airport. Despite this intense security, only Brad was required to pass through a metal detector. I was instead just lightly patted down in a separate booth used for all women travelers - apparently they don't feel that females are potential terrorists.
The flight from Amman was interesting, they had a horrible snake movie on the tv the entire time which was not so pleasant. It's also such a contrast from the states where someone who dresses typically "Middle Eastern" attracts significant attention in the post 911 world, whereas we Americans stood out the Royal Jordanian flights.
But, it was much better than the 12 hour bus ride that I took from Eilat to Cairo when I was in college (and had no money). The bus ride had no air conditioning, not enough seats for the passengers, no ventilation, and was just plain miserable. I spent the final 4 hours of the bus journey sitting in the aisle. Flying was MUCH better!
When you arrive in Cairo, you are immediately struck by 3 things. First Cairo is a HUGE city of 22 million people. Second it is an incredibly poor city, one of the poorest I've ever visited. Unemployment is routinely above 20% (unless of course you ask the government for their number which is allegedly 9%. Yeah right).
Third, the drivers are terrible. Lane markings are ignored - they are more like decorations on the road, street lights are never used and really are just suggestions and horns are used all the time. Even the worst American drivers are highly skilled as compared to Egyptian drivers. Friends have asked me if I think it is safe to visit Egypt. Security wise, Egypt is normally very safe to visit (except of course, right now). The scariest part of Egypt was crossing the street - it felt like a game of frogger.
The second time I was in Egypt was in college. While studying abroad in Israel, some friends and I decided to spend a few days in the Sinai Peninsula for a weekend and climb Mount Sinai. However, we were dumb college students and really had no plan for getting to Mount Sinai once we crossed the border from Israel into Egypt. Thinking back on this story now makes me shudder at my incredible stupidity - and marvel at my naive trust in strangers.
After going through customs, we met a man at the border who had a van and would take us to Mount Sinai for a good price. Sure, we said, and hopped into his van. On the way there, he said he was hungry so we all stopped for a big dinner...at his brother Mohammed's house (everyone there is named Mohammed. It's like Matt in the U.S.). So, we ate at his brother's - another stranger - and kept going. Because of the heat during the day, it is best to climb Mt. Sinai in the middle of the night. When we arrived at the base of the mountain, our driver said "I know a man named Mohammed who has many camels, he will bring you up the mountain for a good price. Just leave your bags in my van and I will meet you here in the morning."
Being the incredibly dumb students that we were, we happily agreed to hire Mohammad AND LEAVE OUR STUFF IN HIS VAN. Seriously, what were we thinking???
Mohammad and his camels brought us to the top of Mount Sinai which had snow on the top and was freezing. We tried to sleep in our sleeping bags fully dressed but were too cold and mostly just cuddled together to stay warm until the sun came up. It wasn't until we were halfway back down the mountain on the way back to the van when someone in the group said, "Uhhh, guys - you know, I'm wondering if leaving our stuff in the van was the best idea? Think it will still be there?" Honestly, it wasn't until that moment that we even considered that the van driver could have taken off over night with our stuff. Did I mention that we were insanely stupid 20 year old travelers?
Amazingly, our van driver, whose middle name was Mohammed, was at the base of the mountain waiting for us with breakfast and all of our bags! Our trust had paid off - but in retrospect, what were we thinking. I can't help but wonder if our trust would have been the same a year later after September 11th. I feel like September 11th changed our perception of trusting foreigners, especially an Arab Middle Easterner. Obviously, I should never have been as trusting as I was - but it's pretty amazing that I felt like I could trust him - and he proved me correct.
Shortly after that trip, we went to Cairo where I've been twice - again in 2000 and then in 2007. I have fond memories of taking two dinner cruises on the Nile River with dancers and music.
I always have fond memories of FAVORITE Egyptian dish called koshari. It is a vegetarian meal made of lentils, pasta, rice, garbanzo beans, onions, and a sour tomato sauce - quite fabulous! The Egyptians really enjoy their chick peas - they call whole chick peas "hummus" and they are fond of chick pea soup (which was actually disgusting). Egyptian street vendors sell a wide variety of juices - including a very sweet sugar cane juice.
I hope that the protestors have respected the amazing Egypt Museum which is in the heart of Cairo. It is probably the largest museum I've evern been in and houses artifacts dating back over 4000 years of Egyptian history. It is truly remarkable how well the many sculptures, paintings and other artifacts have held up over thousands of years. The detail work and colors used are unbelievable and I remember leaving the museum even more impressed with Egyptian history than when we arrived.
On two visits to Cairo we went to the Papyrus Museum (in 2000, we bumped into Barbara Bush Sr - wife of President Bush and her family in the Papyrus Museum and in the Egypt Museum, I think their security guards thouht we were stalking them!) and learned about the ancient Egyptian process of making paper from the papyrus plants that grow in the Nile.
And of course, I pray that the Pyramids are undamaged from the demonstrations. The Pyramids were much bigger than I had anticipated. The largest of the pyramids took over 17 years to build and is constructed by over 2 million blocks that were floated up the Nile River from southern Egypt. They truly are a wonder of the world. The Sphynx are actually smaller than I imagined.
And we learned to make proper Middle Eastern pita. Sorry, but American pita bread is pathetic compared to Middle Eastern pita.
When I first visited Egypt in 2000, the Egyptian people loved Americans and loved President Clinton. Despite Clinton's close ties to Israel, they felt a strong kinship with the U.S. and great respect for our country.
In 2007, things had drasticaly changed. Our tour guide talked at length of America's diminished reputation in the region. He said this was due to both the war in Iraq, President Bush's perceived arrogance and America's strong support for Israel. We found it interesting that he viewed Arafat (who was still alive at the time) with great affection and Abbas with great disdain. We did not tell him that we had just spent 2 weeks in Israel and my cousin serves in the Israeli military. While we didn't share his sentiments, we found the healthy exchange of ideas to be valuable and insightful. At the end of our day our guide thanked us for the discussion and debate.
Finally, I will never forget the Cairo airport. Hands down, it is the worst airport I've ever been in. We arrived at the airport 3 hours early to catch our flight to Greece - which should have been plenty of time to get on an international flight. WRONG. It is truly a mystery how to navigate the airport. The signs are not in English and any time you stop to ask an airport official for help, they would only offer information if you paid them - and even then the information was often wrong.
I had printed my boarding pass from the hotel computer so I didn't have an actual ticket - just the paper copy of my ticket. Apparently, this is unusual in Egypt and they wouldn't let me through security without a ticket - and didn't understand that the print-out WAS my ticket. Frantic and running out of time, I desperately created a fake ticket through elaborate folding of another piece of paper and after realizing that the security guard couldn't read English, I pointed at certain words on the page and insisted that those words indicated that it was my ticket. With minutes to spare, I barely made my flight.
Egypt and Jordan are countries rich in history, archeology, culture, and mired in politics of poverty. I pray that the Egyptian & Jordanian people are able to find leaders who will take care of the millions of people who struggle to make ends meet amidst rampant inflation, corruption, and unemployment. I look forward to taking my sons back to Egypt & Jordan on future trips and continue to watch the news with great interest and concern.
Although I haven't been to either country since 2007, I am particularly compelled by these protests given my travels in Egypt & Jordan. I feel connected to both countries and have an understanding of each country's culture - as much as an American Jewish tourist can have.
Both countries are so so different than the U.S. You literally cannot walk 10 feet in Jordan without seeing pictures of the king EVERYWHERE. It is a poor country, the cars are older, the houses mostly look run-down The major city of Amman is overcrowded.
The biggest tourist attraction in Jordan is Petra, the home of the famous rock architecture and the rock Treasury. Most Americans have seen it in the Indiana Jones Last Crusader movie or in Arabian Nights.
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| Rock Treasury in Petra |
Jordan is a country of contradictions as well. It was extremely common to see a fully covered woman on the beach with her young children in bathing suits. Unlike Israel, where observant men dressed as modestly as women, most the men on the beach dress like any westerner would.
When we were last there 3 years ago, we spent a few days relaxing at a Red Sea resort in Aqaba, Jordan. The hotel was a gorgeous 5 star resort - that was about $50/night.
We were literally 500 feet from the Israel/Jordan border abutting the Israeli Red Sea resort town of Eilat - where the same type of hotel would have easily been $500/night. Shows you the difference between the western Israeli economy and the struggling Jordanian economy.
When we were there in 2007, we flew from Aqaba Jordan to Cairo, Egypt. We were very nervous when our hotel assured us that we should leave at 8am for our 9am international flight on the day of our departure and the airport was at least 20 minutes away. We arrived at the airport with 30 minutes to spare and ended up making it through intense security in about 10 minutes - a far cry from airports in the U.S. While checking in for our flight our passports were checked no less than 6 times each, including before our van even entered the airport. Despite this intense security, only Brad was required to pass through a metal detector. I was instead just lightly patted down in a separate booth used for all women travelers - apparently they don't feel that females are potential terrorists.
The flight from Amman was interesting, they had a horrible snake movie on the tv the entire time which was not so pleasant. It's also such a contrast from the states where someone who dresses typically "Middle Eastern" attracts significant attention in the post 911 world, whereas we Americans stood out the Royal Jordanian flights.
But, it was much better than the 12 hour bus ride that I took from Eilat to Cairo when I was in college (and had no money). The bus ride had no air conditioning, not enough seats for the passengers, no ventilation, and was just plain miserable. I spent the final 4 hours of the bus journey sitting in the aisle. Flying was MUCH better!
When you arrive in Cairo, you are immediately struck by 3 things. First Cairo is a HUGE city of 22 million people. Second it is an incredibly poor city, one of the poorest I've ever visited. Unemployment is routinely above 20% (unless of course you ask the government for their number which is allegedly 9%. Yeah right).
Third, the drivers are terrible. Lane markings are ignored - they are more like decorations on the road, street lights are never used and really are just suggestions and horns are used all the time. Even the worst American drivers are highly skilled as compared to Egyptian drivers. Friends have asked me if I think it is safe to visit Egypt. Security wise, Egypt is normally very safe to visit (except of course, right now). The scariest part of Egypt was crossing the street - it felt like a game of frogger.
The second time I was in Egypt was in college. While studying abroad in Israel, some friends and I decided to spend a few days in the Sinai Peninsula for a weekend and climb Mount Sinai. However, we were dumb college students and really had no plan for getting to Mount Sinai once we crossed the border from Israel into Egypt. Thinking back on this story now makes me shudder at my incredible stupidity - and marvel at my naive trust in strangers.
After going through customs, we met a man at the border who had a van and would take us to Mount Sinai for a good price. Sure, we said, and hopped into his van. On the way there, he said he was hungry so we all stopped for a big dinner...at his brother Mohammed's house (everyone there is named Mohammed. It's like Matt in the U.S.). So, we ate at his brother's - another stranger - and kept going. Because of the heat during the day, it is best to climb Mt. Sinai in the middle of the night. When we arrived at the base of the mountain, our driver said "I know a man named Mohammed who has many camels, he will bring you up the mountain for a good price. Just leave your bags in my van and I will meet you here in the morning."
Being the incredibly dumb students that we were, we happily agreed to hire Mohammad AND LEAVE OUR STUFF IN HIS VAN. Seriously, what were we thinking???
Mohammad and his camels brought us to the top of Mount Sinai which had snow on the top and was freezing. We tried to sleep in our sleeping bags fully dressed but were too cold and mostly just cuddled together to stay warm until the sun came up. It wasn't until we were halfway back down the mountain on the way back to the van when someone in the group said, "Uhhh, guys - you know, I'm wondering if leaving our stuff in the van was the best idea? Think it will still be there?" Honestly, it wasn't until that moment that we even considered that the van driver could have taken off over night with our stuff. Did I mention that we were insanely stupid 20 year old travelers?
Amazingly, our van driver, whose middle name was Mohammed, was at the base of the mountain waiting for us with breakfast and all of our bags! Our trust had paid off - but in retrospect, what were we thinking. I can't help but wonder if our trust would have been the same a year later after September 11th. I feel like September 11th changed our perception of trusting foreigners, especially an Arab Middle Easterner. Obviously, I should never have been as trusting as I was - but it's pretty amazing that I felt like I could trust him - and he proved me correct.
Shortly after that trip, we went to Cairo where I've been twice - again in 2000 and then in 2007. I have fond memories of taking two dinner cruises on the Nile River with dancers and music.
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| Nile River at sunset, 2007 |
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| Dancer on the dinner cruise - I'm sorry, but on what planet is this guy "straight"? But, people are not really allowed to be gay in Egypt. |
I always have fond memories of FAVORITE Egyptian dish called koshari. It is a vegetarian meal made of lentils, pasta, rice, garbanzo beans, onions, and a sour tomato sauce - quite fabulous! The Egyptians really enjoy their chick peas - they call whole chick peas "hummus" and they are fond of chick pea soup (which was actually disgusting). Egyptian street vendors sell a wide variety of juices - including a very sweet sugar cane juice.
I hope that the protestors have respected the amazing Egypt Museum which is in the heart of Cairo. It is probably the largest museum I've evern been in and houses artifacts dating back over 4000 years of Egyptian history. It is truly remarkable how well the many sculptures, paintings and other artifacts have held up over thousands of years. The detail work and colors used are unbelievable and I remember leaving the museum even more impressed with Egyptian history than when we arrived.
 |
| Egypt Museum, 2007 |
On two visits to Cairo we went to the Papyrus Museum (in 2000, we bumped into Barbara Bush Sr - wife of President Bush and her family in the Papyrus Museum and in the Egypt Museum, I think their security guards thouht we were stalking them!) and learned about the ancient Egyptian process of making paper from the papyrus plants that grow in the Nile.
And of course, I pray that the Pyramids are undamaged from the demonstrations. The Pyramids were much bigger than I had anticipated. The largest of the pyramids took over 17 years to build and is constructed by over 2 million blocks that were floated up the Nile River from southern Egypt. They truly are a wonder of the world. The Sphynx are actually smaller than I imagined.
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| Brad's camel was a little too friendly and kept trying to kiss him! |
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| Sphynx |
And we learned to make proper Middle Eastern pita. Sorry, but American pita bread is pathetic compared to Middle Eastern pita.
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| Learning to make pita bread. |
When I first visited Egypt in 2000, the Egyptian people loved Americans and loved President Clinton. Despite Clinton's close ties to Israel, they felt a strong kinship with the U.S. and great respect for our country.
In 2007, things had drasticaly changed. Our tour guide talked at length of America's diminished reputation in the region. He said this was due to both the war in Iraq, President Bush's perceived arrogance and America's strong support for Israel. We found it interesting that he viewed Arafat (who was still alive at the time) with great affection and Abbas with great disdain. We did not tell him that we had just spent 2 weeks in Israel and my cousin serves in the Israeli military. While we didn't share his sentiments, we found the healthy exchange of ideas to be valuable and insightful. At the end of our day our guide thanked us for the discussion and debate.
Finally, I will never forget the Cairo airport. Hands down, it is the worst airport I've ever been in. We arrived at the airport 3 hours early to catch our flight to Greece - which should have been plenty of time to get on an international flight. WRONG. It is truly a mystery how to navigate the airport. The signs are not in English and any time you stop to ask an airport official for help, they would only offer information if you paid them - and even then the information was often wrong.
I had printed my boarding pass from the hotel computer so I didn't have an actual ticket - just the paper copy of my ticket. Apparently, this is unusual in Egypt and they wouldn't let me through security without a ticket - and didn't understand that the print-out WAS my ticket. Frantic and running out of time, I desperately created a fake ticket through elaborate folding of another piece of paper and after realizing that the security guard couldn't read English, I pointed at certain words on the page and insisted that those words indicated that it was my ticket. With minutes to spare, I barely made my flight.
Egypt and Jordan are countries rich in history, archeology, culture, and mired in politics of poverty. I pray that the Egyptian & Jordanian people are able to find leaders who will take care of the millions of people who struggle to make ends meet amidst rampant inflation, corruption, and unemployment. I look forward to taking my sons back to Egypt & Jordan on future trips and continue to watch the news with great interest and concern.
Friday, January 28, 2011
Trials & Tribulations of Picking Nursery Furniture - which arrives today!
The day after Christmas, we trekked out to Gaithersburg, MD to pay homage to the nation's largest baby store - the amazing Great Beginnings to buy new nursery furniture for baby boy #2. We debated whether or not we needed a new crib for the new baby. I'm due the week of Sam's 2nd birthday. If we moved him out of his crib for the new baby would he feel displaced by the new baby? Would he be ready for a big boy bed? Do we want him to have the freedom that accompanies a big boy bed?
For a variety of reasons, we decided to keep Sam in his crib and buy a new crib for the new baby. For starters, Sam has never even tried to climb out of his crib and seems perfectly happy in it. I like that he is safely contained within the crib and can't get out! Second, it is a drop-side crib which have now been banned by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Although I feel that the ban is overly broad and should have been more narrowly tailored (sorry, but my lawyer side slips out every now and then), it does give me a moment's pause as to whether or not I want to pass along the drop-side crib to another baby. We don't use the drop-side function for Sam anymore and he's certainly not a baby, so I'm not worried about keeping him in it - and the ban does not require currently used cribs to be taken out of circulation immediately.
Anyway, so we went to Great Beginnings to buy another set of nursery furniture. We've told my parents about the amazing store and they wanted to join us, so we planned the trip while they were in town.
Brad and I were amazed by how differently we experienced the store as second-time parents. When we first went to the store while pregnant with Sam, we were completely clueless and overwhelmed by the hundreds of choices. It truly is the largest baby store in the country! Although we had thoroughly read Baby Bargains, Consumer Reports, and researched baby furniture - we still had no idea what we "needed." We asked the sales desk if someone could help us - and they sent us John.
As much as you learn growing up to not judge a book by its cover, let's be honest, we do judge. The salesman John was about 24 years old with spiky hair, an earring, jeans that were falling off his butt, and smelled of cigarette smoke. I gave Brad one rolling eye look that said it all - "Seriously, this is the punk who is going to help us figure out what we need for the baby? We've heard so much about this amazing store and this is their salesguy?"
But, we had no choice and so we unhappily followed John back into the furniture department. HOLY COW was I wrong! John was unbelievably knowledgeable, intelligent, and a true expert on all things baby - especially impressive given that he doesn't have any kids (and yes, he's straight). He had literally memorized every review, recall, ranking, etc from all of the major baby books and helped us contrast between the options and spoke with true authority like an expert. While we walked around the store, several other parents who had previously worked with John tried to poach him from us to come help them - but John stayed with us, despite my original misgivings. He even admitted that he is the store's "breast pump expert" and answered a number of questions on that subject too. Wow, what a guy!
Without John, I think my pregnancy hormones and I would have sat down in the middle of the store and had a good cry. I felt like he was our Moses parting the red sea so that we could survive the craziness of a baby store!
Fast forward 2 years and Brad and I went to Great Beginnings with Sam and my parents - and felt completely comfortable. We've been in touch with John via email for the past 2 years and although we were supremely disappointed that John wasn't working the weekend we visited the store, we knew we could tackle the store without him. I was also very glad to have my parents with us so that they could help with Sam while we made our choices. Sam was not in a great mood that day and while at the store we realizd why - he was starving. He's normally not a big eater and we try to offer him a meal or snack every few hours. For some reason, that day his appetite skyrockwted and that afternoon he literally ate 3x the amount of food that he usually eats in an entire day. My parents had the joy of feeding a small horse that afternoon!
Anyway, while walking around in the store we felt like we knew what we wanted. The models had changed since we bought Sam's furniture, but we knew that we were only considering the furniture that had received an "A" rating from Baby Bargains because those brands are the safest, most reliable, and durable (ie, Pali, Munire, Romina, Natart, etc).
We settled on Pali and here's what we chose:
The last picture is called a "flip kit" - which did not exist 2 years ago (we got it in the same dark cherry color as the other furniture). It is basically a wooden changing kit with a cushion that goes on top of the dresser/changing table but extends off the edge and allows you to change the baby while facing you - rather than placing the baby sideways so you're perpendicular to the baby. I would have LOVED this with Sam, what a terrific idea!
The nursery is painted a light sky blue and we plan to do a Noah's Ark theme - although we really haven't bought any of the "accessories" yet other than the terrific "touch" lamp that my dad bought for the nursery. He bought one for Sam and I love it so I asked him to buy another one. A "touch" lamp is such a brilliant idea for a nursery - so you don't have to fumble around in the dark for the switch to turn the lamp on, you can just tap any part of the lampshade, base, trunk, etc. - a quality that is very welcomed when you're running on very little sleep!
The nursery furniture typically takes 10-14 weeks to arrive, which was fine b/c we ordered the furniture when I was 27 weeks pregnant and we will have the baby sleep in a bassinet in our room for the beginning anyway.
Well, a few days ago I received a call from Great Beginnings informing me that the furniture had arrived and when could they deliver it? Some Jews follow the tradition of not having any items for the new baby in the house until after the baby arrives. We don't subscribe to that philosophy - however, I will admit that the timing of the furniture's arrival freaked me out a bit. The furniture is being delivered today - when I am 31 weeks and 5 days pregnant...precariously close to the worrisome 32 week threshold of when Sam was born. Brad has reassured me that the furniture delivery today is not a bad omen - but I'm still a bit nervous.
However, there's also a positive side to having the baby furniture arrive early. It will hopefully help Sam get used to the idea that his baby brother is arriving soon and this will be his room. Currently the nursery is empty, except for the bassinet which we borrowed from a friend. Sam regularly goes over to the bassinet and looks in it and says "baby!" He's very interested in babies, although I don't think he fully understands what is about to happen.
We will post pictures of the new nursery soon!
For a variety of reasons, we decided to keep Sam in his crib and buy a new crib for the new baby. For starters, Sam has never even tried to climb out of his crib and seems perfectly happy in it. I like that he is safely contained within the crib and can't get out! Second, it is a drop-side crib which have now been banned by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Although I feel that the ban is overly broad and should have been more narrowly tailored (sorry, but my lawyer side slips out every now and then), it does give me a moment's pause as to whether or not I want to pass along the drop-side crib to another baby. We don't use the drop-side function for Sam anymore and he's certainly not a baby, so I'm not worried about keeping him in it - and the ban does not require currently used cribs to be taken out of circulation immediately.
Anyway, so we went to Great Beginnings to buy another set of nursery furniture. We've told my parents about the amazing store and they wanted to join us, so we planned the trip while they were in town.
Brad and I were amazed by how differently we experienced the store as second-time parents. When we first went to the store while pregnant with Sam, we were completely clueless and overwhelmed by the hundreds of choices. It truly is the largest baby store in the country! Although we had thoroughly read Baby Bargains, Consumer Reports, and researched baby furniture - we still had no idea what we "needed." We asked the sales desk if someone could help us - and they sent us John.
As much as you learn growing up to not judge a book by its cover, let's be honest, we do judge. The salesman John was about 24 years old with spiky hair, an earring, jeans that were falling off his butt, and smelled of cigarette smoke. I gave Brad one rolling eye look that said it all - "Seriously, this is the punk who is going to help us figure out what we need for the baby? We've heard so much about this amazing store and this is their salesguy?"
But, we had no choice and so we unhappily followed John back into the furniture department. HOLY COW was I wrong! John was unbelievably knowledgeable, intelligent, and a true expert on all things baby - especially impressive given that he doesn't have any kids (and yes, he's straight). He had literally memorized every review, recall, ranking, etc from all of the major baby books and helped us contrast between the options and spoke with true authority like an expert. While we walked around the store, several other parents who had previously worked with John tried to poach him from us to come help them - but John stayed with us, despite my original misgivings. He even admitted that he is the store's "breast pump expert" and answered a number of questions on that subject too. Wow, what a guy!
Without John, I think my pregnancy hormones and I would have sat down in the middle of the store and had a good cry. I felt like he was our Moses parting the red sea so that we could survive the craziness of a baby store!
Fast forward 2 years and Brad and I went to Great Beginnings with Sam and my parents - and felt completely comfortable. We've been in touch with John via email for the past 2 years and although we were supremely disappointed that John wasn't working the weekend we visited the store, we knew we could tackle the store without him. I was also very glad to have my parents with us so that they could help with Sam while we made our choices. Sam was not in a great mood that day and while at the store we realizd why - he was starving. He's normally not a big eater and we try to offer him a meal or snack every few hours. For some reason, that day his appetite skyrockwted and that afternoon he literally ate 3x the amount of food that he usually eats in an entire day. My parents had the joy of feeding a small horse that afternoon!
Anyway, while walking around in the store we felt like we knew what we wanted. The models had changed since we bought Sam's furniture, but we knew that we were only considering the furniture that had received an "A" rating from Baby Bargains because those brands are the safest, most reliable, and durable (ie, Pali, Munire, Romina, Natart, etc).
We settled on Pali and here's what we chose:
The last picture is called a "flip kit" - which did not exist 2 years ago (we got it in the same dark cherry color as the other furniture). It is basically a wooden changing kit with a cushion that goes on top of the dresser/changing table but extends off the edge and allows you to change the baby while facing you - rather than placing the baby sideways so you're perpendicular to the baby. I would have LOVED this with Sam, what a terrific idea!
The nursery is painted a light sky blue and we plan to do a Noah's Ark theme - although we really haven't bought any of the "accessories" yet other than the terrific "touch" lamp that my dad bought for the nursery. He bought one for Sam and I love it so I asked him to buy another one. A "touch" lamp is such a brilliant idea for a nursery - so you don't have to fumble around in the dark for the switch to turn the lamp on, you can just tap any part of the lampshade, base, trunk, etc. - a quality that is very welcomed when you're running on very little sleep!
The nursery furniture typically takes 10-14 weeks to arrive, which was fine b/c we ordered the furniture when I was 27 weeks pregnant and we will have the baby sleep in a bassinet in our room for the beginning anyway.
Well, a few days ago I received a call from Great Beginnings informing me that the furniture had arrived and when could they deliver it? Some Jews follow the tradition of not having any items for the new baby in the house until after the baby arrives. We don't subscribe to that philosophy - however, I will admit that the timing of the furniture's arrival freaked me out a bit. The furniture is being delivered today - when I am 31 weeks and 5 days pregnant...precariously close to the worrisome 32 week threshold of when Sam was born. Brad has reassured me that the furniture delivery today is not a bad omen - but I'm still a bit nervous.
However, there's also a positive side to having the baby furniture arrive early. It will hopefully help Sam get used to the idea that his baby brother is arriving soon and this will be his room. Currently the nursery is empty, except for the bassinet which we borrowed from a friend. Sam regularly goes over to the bassinet and looks in it and says "baby!" He's very interested in babies, although I don't think he fully understands what is about to happen.
We will post pictures of the new nursery soon!
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Sam's first real Jewish experience
Teaching our children about Judaism is a very important value in our family. Since the first night of Sam's life, we have a nightly ritual before we put him to bed. Brad and I sing the Sh'ma and V'havta in Hebrew and in English. We sing the English version by Debbie Friedman (see my blogpost on her recent passing 2 weeks ago). Although we don't quite sound like this, here's what the song sounds like in English. After we sing the prayers, we each say something that we're thankful that day. It's been a wonderful nightly routine that we deeply cherish.
Last night we celebrated Shabbat as we do every week, but it was probably Sam's first REAL Jewish experience...which I'll get to in a second (or you can scroll down).
Sam was first welcomed to Judaism at his bris (circumcision) at our home when he was 5 weeks old. Traditionally the bris is done on the baby's 8th day of life unless the baby is not healthy enough for the procedure. Given that Sam was in the NICU for 3 weeks, it was clearly not going to occur on the 8th day. We had over 125 people in our home for the bris and we had everyone leave messages for our family in a guestbook.
My favorite note in the guestbook said "Sam, welcome to Judaism! It gets a lot better after today's bris, I promise!" So funny, and yet so true!
Most people probably know that Brad converted to Judaism a few years ago and we celebrate the holidays and try to teach Sam about Judaism whenever we can. Here are a few of our favorite Jewish holiday pictures:
As much as we enjoy celebrating all of the festivals and holidays, the most important Jewish holiday is the weekly Sabbath. Regardless of what is going on in our lives, we try to do something special for Shabbat every Friday night. Sometimes this is just us quickly lighting the Sabbath candles, saying the blessings over the candles, wine, challah, and the blessings over the children.
Sam's first Shabbat home from the NICU was very special, Brad even made his amazing challah!
However, last night's Shabbat dinner might have been my favorite Shabbat ever. After we light the Sabbath candles, we move our hands and arms over the newly lit flames in a circular fashion towards ourselves, making 3 circles with our hands to bring the Sabbath spirit into our hearts. We do this every Friday night and Sam usually watches.
But last night, Sam saw us lighting the candles and as soon as we started making the circles with our hands, he started making the circles too! I was blown away and so unbelievably moved that he was able to participate in one of the most important rituals in Judaism. Some people believe that lighting the Sabbath candles is a job only performed by women, but in our egalitarian home, Brad and I light the candles together - and now Sam does too! It was such a special moment, something I will never ever forget.
We also say prayers over the Sabbath wine (or juice in our house since Sam nor I drink wine). At the end of the prayer, we say Amen and then L'Chaim (it's like saying "Cheers!" or "Salut!" before you drink something). Brad and I then clink our glasses and drink the wine/juice. We always give Sam a little cup of juice so he can participate in the prayer and last night he raised his cup to clink with us too!
Of course, it wasn't long before he then wanted my wine glass with juice in it...
Last night we celebrated Shabbat as we do every week, but it was probably Sam's first REAL Jewish experience...which I'll get to in a second (or you can scroll down).
Sam was first welcomed to Judaism at his bris (circumcision) at our home when he was 5 weeks old. Traditionally the bris is done on the baby's 8th day of life unless the baby is not healthy enough for the procedure. Given that Sam was in the NICU for 3 weeks, it was clearly not going to occur on the 8th day. We had over 125 people in our home for the bris and we had everyone leave messages for our family in a guestbook.
My favorite note in the guestbook said "Sam, welcome to Judaism! It gets a lot better after today's bris, I promise!" So funny, and yet so true!
Most people probably know that Brad converted to Judaism a few years ago and we celebrate the holidays and try to teach Sam about Judaism whenever we can. Here are a few of our favorite Jewish holiday pictures:
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| Hanukkah with Grandpa, Uncle D, & Mimi - Dec. '09 |
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| Grogger at Purim! |
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| Dressing up for Purim, on the bimah at the synagogue |
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| Hanukkah December 2010 |
Sam's first Shabbat home from the NICU was very special, Brad even made his amazing challah!
However, last night's Shabbat dinner might have been my favorite Shabbat ever. After we light the Sabbath candles, we move our hands and arms over the newly lit flames in a circular fashion towards ourselves, making 3 circles with our hands to bring the Sabbath spirit into our hearts. We do this every Friday night and Sam usually watches.
But last night, Sam saw us lighting the candles and as soon as we started making the circles with our hands, he started making the circles too! I was blown away and so unbelievably moved that he was able to participate in one of the most important rituals in Judaism. Some people believe that lighting the Sabbath candles is a job only performed by women, but in our egalitarian home, Brad and I light the candles together - and now Sam does too! It was such a special moment, something I will never ever forget.
We also say prayers over the Sabbath wine (or juice in our house since Sam nor I drink wine). At the end of the prayer, we say Amen and then L'Chaim (it's like saying "Cheers!" or "Salut!" before you drink something). Brad and I then clink our glasses and drink the wine/juice. We always give Sam a little cup of juice so he can participate in the prayer and last night he raised his cup to clink with us too!
Of course, it wasn't long before he then wanted my wine glass with juice in it...
It was one of the most special Shabbat dinners we've had in a very long time. Shabbat Shalom to all!
Friday, January 21, 2011
Update on My Bedrest - 2 weeks down, 2 weeks to go
I have good news and bad news. The first piece of good news is that baby boy #2 is doing well, growing, and healthy. The second piece of good news is that my blood pressure numbers appear to have stabilized after 2 weeks of "modified bedrest." I'm getting more used to things than I was at the Blog on Day 3 of bedrest.
The bad news is that the "modified bedrest" is working and has stabilized my blood pressure numbers. Yes, I know that I said this is good news - but because it is working, my doctor wants to extend the modified bedrest for at least another 2 weeks since we know it is working.
Although I'm relieved that my blood pressure numbers seem to have evened out, I was expecting to return to work and resume a normal schedule next week. I'm frustrated that I have to continue on a "modified" schedule for another few weeks. Basically this means that I'm working from home (thank goodness for wireless Internet!) and staying off my feet. I was sent home with a blood pressure machine and have been monitoring my numbers daily. Thankfully I haven't had a repeat of the scary numbers that I had when I was first put on bedrest. I'm allowed to take short excursions out of the house 1x/day as long as I stay off my feet when I'm out. Most days this excursion is a visit to one of my many doctors.
Even though my numbers are better, my primary doctor said yesterday "we don't know what caused the sudden spike in your numbers 2 weeks ago, but they were real and they were scary. We do know that the bedrest is working so I don't want to change anything since we know this is working and your numbers are stabilizing."
His logic makes sense and I'm certainly not going to argue with him given that I am almost 31 weeks along and Sam was born at 32 weeks. Thankfully I'm not on strict bedrest. I have some friends who have been on strict bedrest and were only allowed to get up from bed to use the bathroom or to shower. I don't know how I could do that - I'm already going a bit stir crazy staying home this much on modified bedrest.
As the days tick by and the much-anticipated "32 week threshold" grows closer, I become more and more nervous. Actually, nervous isn't the right word. I'm terrified. I work hard to not dwell on it, but I fear I'm losing this battle as it is on my mind far too much these days. But, I just try to stay positive and take things one day at a time.
The last piece of good news is that I'm certainly not bored! I am able to continue working for my firm from home and continue to stay very involved in my volunteer activities.
In my "free" time, I serve as the spokesperson/press secretary for the Coalition for Full Day Kindergarten in Fairfax County (see my first Blog Post about the Coalition for Full Day K) which is very exciting but takes a lot of time. Thankfully 99% of it can be done from home. I launched our online petition which you can sign here. In recent days, our support and signatures have increased by 100+ people PER day! Thanks to all of my blogreaders who have signed the petition. If you haven't already signed it, I hope that you will!
We've also received quite a bit of press too. Here's the First Article that quotes me a lot, An Article on our Successful Summit, Story about a 1/2 Day Kindergarten Classroom; and a Channel 9 TV Story about Us. The Coalition for Full Day Kindergarten has been a wonderful distraction from my worries and I have made so many wonderful new friends in my community who have truly supported me during the challenges of bedrest.
We are truly blessed to have so many friends who have brought us meals to make our day a little easier since Brad is now handling 100% of the household responsibilities. We are so so grateful for your support.
So, that's the udpate from the Geller-Cheney home. Two weeks of bedrest down, at least two more to go. Think positive thoughts!
The bad news is that the "modified bedrest" is working and has stabilized my blood pressure numbers. Yes, I know that I said this is good news - but because it is working, my doctor wants to extend the modified bedrest for at least another 2 weeks since we know it is working.
Although I'm relieved that my blood pressure numbers seem to have evened out, I was expecting to return to work and resume a normal schedule next week. I'm frustrated that I have to continue on a "modified" schedule for another few weeks. Basically this means that I'm working from home (thank goodness for wireless Internet!) and staying off my feet. I was sent home with a blood pressure machine and have been monitoring my numbers daily. Thankfully I haven't had a repeat of the scary numbers that I had when I was first put on bedrest. I'm allowed to take short excursions out of the house 1x/day as long as I stay off my feet when I'm out. Most days this excursion is a visit to one of my many doctors.
Even though my numbers are better, my primary doctor said yesterday "we don't know what caused the sudden spike in your numbers 2 weeks ago, but they were real and they were scary. We do know that the bedrest is working so I don't want to change anything since we know this is working and your numbers are stabilizing."
His logic makes sense and I'm certainly not going to argue with him given that I am almost 31 weeks along and Sam was born at 32 weeks. Thankfully I'm not on strict bedrest. I have some friends who have been on strict bedrest and were only allowed to get up from bed to use the bathroom or to shower. I don't know how I could do that - I'm already going a bit stir crazy staying home this much on modified bedrest.
As the days tick by and the much-anticipated "32 week threshold" grows closer, I become more and more nervous. Actually, nervous isn't the right word. I'm terrified. I work hard to not dwell on it, but I fear I'm losing this battle as it is on my mind far too much these days. But, I just try to stay positive and take things one day at a time.
The last piece of good news is that I'm certainly not bored! I am able to continue working for my firm from home and continue to stay very involved in my volunteer activities.
In my "free" time, I serve as the spokesperson/press secretary for the Coalition for Full Day Kindergarten in Fairfax County (see my first Blog Post about the Coalition for Full Day K) which is very exciting but takes a lot of time. Thankfully 99% of it can be done from home. I launched our online petition which you can sign here. In recent days, our support and signatures have increased by 100+ people PER day! Thanks to all of my blogreaders who have signed the petition. If you haven't already signed it, I hope that you will!
We've also received quite a bit of press too. Here's the First Article that quotes me a lot, An Article on our Successful Summit, Story about a 1/2 Day Kindergarten Classroom; and a Channel 9 TV Story about Us. The Coalition for Full Day Kindergarten has been a wonderful distraction from my worries and I have made so many wonderful new friends in my community who have truly supported me during the challenges of bedrest.
We are truly blessed to have so many friends who have brought us meals to make our day a little easier since Brad is now handling 100% of the household responsibilities. We are so so grateful for your support.
So, that's the udpate from the Geller-Cheney home. Two weeks of bedrest down, at least two more to go. Think positive thoughts!
Friday, January 14, 2011
First real picture of baby boy #2
Even though we see the maternal fetal specialist constantly and have high resolution ultrasounds of the baby every 2 weeks, baby boy #2 is very similar to his big brother and rarely cooperates with the ultrasound tech. We almost never get a good picture of what he looks like - except that he is definitely a boy, a fact that he likes to show off practically every time we have an ultrasound.
But, yesterday we got an AMAZING view of his face and were stunned by how incredibly similar he and Sam look. Here's yesterday's picture of baby boy #2 at 29.5 weeks:
But, yesterday we got an AMAZING view of his face and were stunned by how incredibly similar he and Sam look. Here's yesterday's picture of baby boy #2 at 29.5 weeks:
And here is a picture of Sam at 6 weeks old from a similar viewpoint.
Maybe it's just that we're proud parents and think that baby boy #2 is as cute as Sam, but we were very excited by the ultrasound. Seeing his face in such clarity made it feel much more real.
We also think Sam is trying to help us prepare for the new baby by getting us back into the routine of getting up in the middle of the night. Since he was 4 months old, Sam has been an amazing sleeper. He normally sleeps 11-12 hours/night and goes down usually without a problem.
The last three nights he has woken up between 1-4am am for no apparent reason. He wasn't hungry, thirsty, poopy, etc. I think he just wanted to play - which we were not about to do at 4am. Both nights he was up for 60-90 minutes. Considering I'm on bedrest, I'm exhausted! We're letting him cry it out once we determine that there's really nothing he "needs" - but we are frustrated. Maybe he's going through a toddler sleep pattern change? We have no idea.
Anyway, thought you all would enjoy this glimpse of baby boy #2!
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Request for Help from Fairfax County friends
Attention Fairfax County friends! This blog post is a CALL TO ACTION and a request for your help - it will take 1 minute of your time, so please read.
I'm deeply involved with a non-partisan group called "Equity in Education via Full Day Kindergarten." Research studies show that students with full day kindergarten (FDK) are clearly at an advantage compared to those with half day kindergarten. The elementary school that my kids will attend is 1 of 37 Fairfax County schools that only offers 1/2 day kindergarten - all of the rest of the county schools offer FDK.
I'm wondering if you might be willing to sign a petition that states you support bringing full day kindergarten to ALL elementary schools in Fairfax County. Even if you don't have kids, or your kids will attend a school with FDK, or if your kids are older , we still need your support. This is an issue that affects all Fairfax County families - and I hope you will consider signing it. This does not commit you to doing anything (I promise!), just shows your solidarity with other Fairfax County families.
The petition can be accessed here.
It only takes about 30 seconds to sign. It would be great if you could also have your spouse sign it too! Feel free to share this with other Fairfax County friends, coworkers, neighbors, etc. The school board votes in 2 weeks and we're hoping to double the number of signatures we have!
We believe that this is an issue of equity and fairness in education and are in the process of lobbying the School Board and Board of Supervisors to begin funding full day kindergarten at more elementary schools. The press is very interested in this movement, we have received interest from the Washington Post, WTOP radio, News Channel 9, The Connection, and the Patch. You can learn more about us at here on our website.
Please let me know if you have any questions or would like to become involved. We are having a summit January 18th at 730pm at the Fairfax City library. If you'd like to attend, please rsvp to FairfaxFullDayKindergarten@gmail.com. Thanks in advance for your time and support!
I'm deeply involved with a non-partisan group called "Equity in Education via Full Day Kindergarten." Research studies show that students with full day kindergarten (FDK) are clearly at an advantage compared to those with half day kindergarten. The elementary school that my kids will attend is 1 of 37 Fairfax County schools that only offers 1/2 day kindergarten - all of the rest of the county schools offer FDK.
I'm wondering if you might be willing to sign a petition that states you support bringing full day kindergarten to ALL elementary schools in Fairfax County. Even if you don't have kids, or your kids will attend a school with FDK, or if your kids are older , we still need your support. This is an issue that affects all Fairfax County families - and I hope you will consider signing it. This does not commit you to doing anything (I promise!), just shows your solidarity with other Fairfax County families.
The petition can be accessed here.
It only takes about 30 seconds to sign. It would be great if you could also have your spouse sign it too! Feel free to share this with other Fairfax County friends, coworkers, neighbors, etc. The school board votes in 2 weeks and we're hoping to double the number of signatures we have!
We believe that this is an issue of equity and fairness in education and are in the process of lobbying the School Board and Board of Supervisors to begin funding full day kindergarten at more elementary schools. The press is very interested in this movement, we have received interest from the Washington Post, WTOP radio, News Channel 9, The Connection, and the Patch. You can learn more about us at here on our website.
Please let me know if you have any questions or would like to become involved. We are having a summit January 18th at 730pm at the Fairfax City library. If you'd like to attend, please rsvp to FairfaxFullDayKindergarten@gmail.com. Thanks in advance for your time and support!
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Remembering Debbie Friedman
Amidst the tragedy surrounding the Tucson shooting of Judge Roll, Gabe Zimmerman, Christina-Taylor Green, Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, and so many others - I feel that an important story has been lost in the news.
Debbie Friedman, one of the world's most prominent Jewish folk singers, died on Jan 9, 2011. Her funeral is today. If you're not familiar with her, you might enjoy reading about her in this LA Times Story. She was a self-taught musician who truly revolutionized modern day synagogue services. Her songs created a connection between the prayers and individuals' lives. She helped Jews feel part of the services. Her lyrics and music helped the service become more alive.
I own several of her CDs and have often turned to her music at various times in my life. Her songs were part of Jewish summer camp, Hillel services in college, holiday celebrations with my family, and we regularly sing Mi Sheibairach at Shabbat services.
Her most famous song is "Mi Shebairach" which we sing for someone who is sick and pray that they recover and heal quickly. The song was performed at a Tucson temple Sunday for Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (who is Jewish) as well as at healing services for Debbie Friedman after she became ill last week. If you've never heard the song, here's a terrific clip of it - it is half in English and half in Hebrew, and absolutely beautiful.
As today is her funeral and we continue to pray for Rep. Giffords, I have found myself singing Mi Shebairach all day long. I have immense respect for Debbie Friedman and the legacy that she has left behind. I'm deeply saddened by her passing at age 59 and feel such gratitute for the amazing gifts that she gave to the Jewish people.
Sam's best friend Neal is taking over our house
As I've said before, Sam goes to a wonderful in-home child care 3 days/week. There are 5-6 kids and 2 teachers and he receives excellent care there. His best friend in the class is a little boy about a month older than him named Neal.
Neal is taking over our house. Sam has a new game which he thinks is absolutely hysterical. Although Sam definitely knows his name is Sam, he thinks it is hilarious to say that his name is Neal. Every now and then he says his name is Kylie (a little girl in his class, but usually everyone is Neal).
Now, when I point to Brad and say "who's that?" a huge grin spreads across his face and he shouts "NEAL!" and throws his head back laughing and laughing. He not only knows that Brad is daddy, but he also calls him Brad (he hears me calling Brad and has learned that Daddy's name is Brad)
We skyped with my parents the other night and although he absolutely knows their names are Mimi and Grandpa - and he also calls them Norm and Sue at times (he hears them calling each other by their first name and has started to repeat it), he insisted on calling them "Neal" and rolled on the floor laughing at his joke.
"D", my brother David, has been called Neal and so have I. Amazingly, the only one who has not been called Neal is Lucy the dog who I think he loves more than anything (or anyone). Sam is obsessed with his joke and finds every opportunity to possible to play the name game - and call everyone Neal. He also loves to play hide & seek/BOO (as you'll see in the video below). This video was taken after he'd been playing the "Neal" game for 20 minutes already so he wasn't laughing quite as hysterically as he was at the beginning of the game - but you can still tell that he finds it entertaining.
I love Sam's sense of humor, what a funny little boy.
Neal is taking over our house. Sam has a new game which he thinks is absolutely hysterical. Although Sam definitely knows his name is Sam, he thinks it is hilarious to say that his name is Neal. Every now and then he says his name is Kylie (a little girl in his class, but usually everyone is Neal).
Now, when I point to Brad and say "who's that?" a huge grin spreads across his face and he shouts "NEAL!" and throws his head back laughing and laughing. He not only knows that Brad is daddy, but he also calls him Brad (he hears me calling Brad and has learned that Daddy's name is Brad)
We skyped with my parents the other night and although he absolutely knows their names are Mimi and Grandpa - and he also calls them Norm and Sue at times (he hears them calling each other by their first name and has started to repeat it), he insisted on calling them "Neal" and rolled on the floor laughing at his joke.
"D", my brother David, has been called Neal and so have I. Amazingly, the only one who has not been called Neal is Lucy the dog who I think he loves more than anything (or anyone). Sam is obsessed with his joke and finds every opportunity to possible to play the name game - and call everyone Neal. He also loves to play hide & seek/BOO (as you'll see in the video below). This video was taken after he'd been playing the "Neal" game for 20 minutes already so he wasn't laughing quite as hysterically as he was at the beginning of the game - but you can still tell that he finds it entertaining.
I love Sam's sense of humor, what a funny little boy.
Monday, January 10, 2011
Day 3 of Bedrest
The past few days have been challenging to say the least. Friday night I had a bit of a pregnancy scare (not going to get into the specifics...) and my doctor put me on bedrest for the weekend to make sure I didn't have contractions or leak amniotic fluid. I'm now 29 weeks along so the next few weeks are particularly precarious (Sam was born at 32 weeks).
This morning we went back to the dr and he ran some more tests. The scare from Friday night seems to have resolved, but my blood pressure has spiked significantly. One of the problems I've had during this pregnancy has been very LOW blood pressure. So low that my doctor sent me to a cardiologist to figure out what was going on. I was routinely feeling dizzy, light-headed, and about to faint. The cardiologist ran a bunch of tests and diagnosed me with "ortho static hypotension" and instructed me to drastically increase my salt intake to increase my blood pressure. Crazy, right?
I followed his instructions but my blood pressure has remained very very low and has dropped even lower as the pregnancy progressed. However, at the end of last week and today, my blood pressure drastically increased and is approaching the red zone for third trimester in pregnancy. He's not sure what caused this very quick jump, but he's hoping that bedrest will help. He's running a number of tests to try to rule out preeclampsia (which can be life-threatening to me). We don't think it's preeclampsia, but just doing the tests to make sure it's not. I have a number of doctor's appointments this week including the cardiologist on Wednesday and the maternal fetal specialist on Thursday.
The good news is that the baby is fine - no problems whatsoever. The amniotic fluid levels are completely normal. The baby's heartbeat is normal, he is head down (which is good) and is very active.
The bad news is that I will be on bedrest until at least Thursday night at which point my doctors will assess the situation and determine the next steps.
As you might have seen from my blogposts, I am a very active person and don't "relax" very well. Brad and I have concluded that I pretty much stink at bedrest. All weekend he had to convince me to stay home and hang out - and still I probably did more than I was supposed to do. I can work from home on my laptop and am trying to use this opportunity to catch up on some things that I can do from the couch.
Brad is taking on pretty much all of the household responsibilities and has been absolutely amazing. A friend is bringing us dinner tonight and tonight we'll come up with a plan for the rest of the week.
Sam's at the in-home childcare this afternoon (even though I'm normally home with him Mon/Tues of each week) and I think we'll bring him in there tomorrow too. It really stinks b/c I love my days home with him but running after him is not exactly what the dr meant by bedrest :)
I am having a hard time with it emotionally because I just go stir crazy with the "hanging out and lay low" instruction and like to be very active, but I am just trying to remind myself that this is temporary and I have to take care of the baby right now. Tomorrow we have to miss our last class at the Little Gym and we won't get to say goodbye to his wonderful instructor. Sam has no idea he's missing it or that his schedule is different this week. He was happy to go to the in-home childcare and has been very cuddly with me when I'm on the couch, etc.
Anyway, that's the news in the Geller-Cheney household. Emails are a welcome distraction!
This morning we went back to the dr and he ran some more tests. The scare from Friday night seems to have resolved, but my blood pressure has spiked significantly. One of the problems I've had during this pregnancy has been very LOW blood pressure. So low that my doctor sent me to a cardiologist to figure out what was going on. I was routinely feeling dizzy, light-headed, and about to faint. The cardiologist ran a bunch of tests and diagnosed me with "ortho static hypotension" and instructed me to drastically increase my salt intake to increase my blood pressure. Crazy, right?
I followed his instructions but my blood pressure has remained very very low and has dropped even lower as the pregnancy progressed. However, at the end of last week and today, my blood pressure drastically increased and is approaching the red zone for third trimester in pregnancy. He's not sure what caused this very quick jump, but he's hoping that bedrest will help. He's running a number of tests to try to rule out preeclampsia (which can be life-threatening to me). We don't think it's preeclampsia, but just doing the tests to make sure it's not. I have a number of doctor's appointments this week including the cardiologist on Wednesday and the maternal fetal specialist on Thursday.
The good news is that the baby is fine - no problems whatsoever. The amniotic fluid levels are completely normal. The baby's heartbeat is normal, he is head down (which is good) and is very active.
The bad news is that I will be on bedrest until at least Thursday night at which point my doctors will assess the situation and determine the next steps.
As you might have seen from my blogposts, I am a very active person and don't "relax" very well. Brad and I have concluded that I pretty much stink at bedrest. All weekend he had to convince me to stay home and hang out - and still I probably did more than I was supposed to do. I can work from home on my laptop and am trying to use this opportunity to catch up on some things that I can do from the couch.
Brad is taking on pretty much all of the household responsibilities and has been absolutely amazing. A friend is bringing us dinner tonight and tonight we'll come up with a plan for the rest of the week.
Sam's at the in-home childcare this afternoon (even though I'm normally home with him Mon/Tues of each week) and I think we'll bring him in there tomorrow too. It really stinks b/c I love my days home with him but running after him is not exactly what the dr meant by bedrest :)
I am having a hard time with it emotionally because I just go stir crazy with the "hanging out and lay low" instruction and like to be very active, but I am just trying to remind myself that this is temporary and I have to take care of the baby right now. Tomorrow we have to miss our last class at the Little Gym and we won't get to say goodbye to his wonderful instructor. Sam has no idea he's missing it or that his schedule is different this week. He was happy to go to the in-home childcare and has been very cuddly with me when I'm on the couch, etc.
Anyway, that's the news in the Geller-Cheney household. Emails are a welcome distraction!
Friday, January 07, 2011
Comparing the pregnancies with Sam & Baby Boy #2 - reflecting back on the blogpost from 19.5 weeks with Sam
A few months ago I stumbled upon the carepages blog that I kept during my pregnancy with Sam and was hoping to use this blog to compare the various stages of the pregnancy. I started off at 17 weeks with:
Comparing pregnancy at 17 weeks with Sam and baby boy #2
However, the election and my blogging hiatus hit and I forgot about this goal. I remembered about it recently and was truly entertained to reflect back on my thoughts from my pregnancy with Sam vs. baby boy #2 So, here's the next installment.
Black font = 2008 blog.
Blue italics font = 2010 thoughts.
Posted Dec 23, 2008 4:05pm
19.5 Week Update - No News About the Gender, oy vey!
I suppose this is preparing me for what it will be actually be like when the baby is born! Brad, my parents, David, and Christine have all been able to feel the baby kick (or punch, who knows!). It is no longer just a fluttering, it is strong movement that I can regularly feel. The strongest movement happens when I'm eating, I think the baby already has some favorite foods: pizza, Chinese food, popcorn, and tofu panang curry - that's when the kicking has been the strongest! I still can't get enough pizza and LOVE tofu panang curry, despite the heartburn that it gives me. I definitely don't crave Chinese food and have only had it once during this pregnancy - during the mandatory "Jewish Christmas Chinese food dinner" when we made homemade wonton soup. Popcorn - eh, I like Costco's kettlecorn drizzled with chocolate, what's not to like!?!?
Brad is happy now that the kicking ia stronger, he was concerned that its future career as a professional soccer player was in jeopardy due to the soft kicks (as if the baby has any choice of playing soccer or not given my dad and brother's love of soccer!). In fact, the baby is moving like crazy even as I write this blog entry. Sam is actually quite talented at kicking balls and was able to kick a ball before he could even walk! We have signed him up for a toddler soccer class (not to actually learn to play soccer but just because he loves kicking balls around and it's an activity Brad & Sam can do together). Here are a few photos of Sam in his first soccer class:
(Back to the 2008 blog):
We've received a number of holiday cards addressed to "Rebecca, Brad, & Baby Geller-Cheney" - kind of catches me off-guard a bit. It's also a bit odd when people at work or elsewhere greet me by saying "Hey Mama!" I'm like, oh honey, my child is never going to call me Mama, I'm not that southern! One secretary at work even greets me by saying "so, how are y'all doing?" - referring to both me and the baby. It's amazing how quickly I've become a twosome! I had my first dream about what the baby will actually look like when it's born. In my dream (before we knew the gender) - the baby was a girl with lots of dark hair and kind of looked like me as a baby, except she was sitting up on the first day of her life. I know, we're having a genius child :) I have crazy dreams with this pregnancy too. I recently dreamed that we had a girl (even though we know it is DEFINITELY a boy) and the girl was an adult literally 2 hours after birth. Doesn't take a genius to tell me that the dream means that I don't want Sam to grow up too quickly!
My tummy has been growing very quickly lately and I am much more aware of it, especially the other day when a waiter was weaving us through some very tight spaces to get to our table in the restaurant - I was like, that's so not happening with my belly! Brad has been STRONGLY urging me to park my car in our 2 car garage in our new house (aka making me). I think I am projecting my growing tummy onto the large size of my car trying to fit into the small garage. Literally, every night when I pull in the garage, I am convinced that my car is too big to fit in the garage and that I'm going to scrape the sides. Brad reassures me, yes it will fit, just be careful....as I hold my breath and slowly inch forward (sometimes closing my eyes!). Yes, this is a constant area of debate in our house! I'm now much more experienced parking the car in the garage. However, I was recently driving Brad's car and lightly tapped the side mirror on the side of the garage door - which left a little scrape. Brad was worried that he'd have to get it painted because it would get rusty. I said "well, the scrapes on the side mirrors of my car have never gotten rusty, so I wouldn't worry about it too much." Brad said, "you have scrapes on your side mirrors too!?!?!" Oh please, you expect me to park my car in the garage EVERY day and never give a love tap to the side of the garage? Let's get real!
I finally had to give in and purchase a maternity winter coat which was much needed as we're heading to snowy New England tomorrow. Afterwards, we head from Vermont and Maine to our last pre-baby vacation in beautiful Puerto Rico! I've learned that this kind of vacation is referred to as a "babymoon." So anyway, while I was buying a maternity winter coat, I also had to purchase a maternity bathing suit and a few summer tops/capri pants. I am now set for every season, oy vey! Sadly, I haven't had any need for the maternity bathing suit this time. Brad was invited on a few awesome work trips to Florida and Hawaii in February/March (which we usually turn into vacations!) which he declined because of the March due date.
I have ordered all of my maternity clothes online from Old Navy or Target, I love the pre-holiday free shipping deals. When my recent shipment arrived from Old Navy, I started trying everything on and could not even get my arm through the sleeve of the first shirt! I started freaking out and was like "Geez! How much pregnancy weight have I gained already!?!? And I'm gaining weight in my arms??? How strange and disturbing!" In my momentary panic, I held up the shirt and was frozen by how tiny it looked. Either I was getting really big really quickly or this shirt was tiny! I finally looked at the tag and saw that it was an extra small (sent to me by mistake!). Whew!!! The other clothes fit me fine and I still have plenty of room for my tummy to keep growing in them. Brad laughed at the ridiculously small shirt, he's convinced that they made it for a pregnancy pre-teenager! My very thin (non-pregnant) friend Christine came over and she couldn't even fit her arm all the way through the sleeve! It gave us quite a chuckle. I've had the opposite problem during this pregnancy. I lost a LOT of weight in between pregnancies and am just now approaching the weight I was when I FIRST got pregnant with Sam. As a result, none of my maternity pants fit me anymore! The legs were like clown pants and I absolutely hate spending $ on maternity clothes. Thankfully I borrowed a bunch of stuff from people, especially some fabulous capri pants from my best friend Melissa - who is like 5'10" and her capri pants fit me like regular pants! Hilarious.
I'm hungry all the time and try to eat about every 2-3 hours. On lazy weekend mornings, I have been waking up very early (usually 6 or 7am), eat my first breakfast, then get back in bed and sleep some more. We joke that I've been fed and then need to take my morning nap! OH HOW I MISS THOSE LAZY DAYS! This is probably one of the biggest differences between the pregnancies. When I was tired then, I could sleep in forever and basically hibernate. Now, sleeping in past 730am feels like a huge luxury! The other day we all slept until 745am and it was WONDERFUL. However, I still feel like I need to eat a snack every 2-3 hours!
I've been really disgusted by meat over the last few months. Brad made a roasted chicken for dinner recently, I walked into the house and almost fell over, the smell was HORRIBLE (to me)! I went straight upstairs and wouldn't come back down until the smell and food was gone! I particularly dislike beef and have eaten it only once in the last few months (a fabulous steak panini at Whole Foods in Boston). I still eat turkey sandwiches and chicken occasionally, but I'm much happier eating vegetarian - I especially like eating beans (lucky Brad!). This is DEFINITELY still true. I've occasionally been able to eat meat but the smell really disgusts me. When we were in Vegas in November, Brad wanted to go to a steakhouse, but there was no way I could stomach that. The smells...uch. Unfortunately my severe anemia is partially caused by the lack of red meat in my diet. But, I still like eating beans and occasionally indulge in a Taco Bell burrito with meat. Yo quiero Taco Bell! I know Taco Bell is really bad Mexican food, but I seriously love it. I have no idea. Don't ask.
My food cravings are as strange as ever. My recent discovery was an amazing treat concocted at a Hanukkah party! She made tater tots instead of latkes and had chocolate fondue to dip various things into. After dipping a pretzel into the chocolate and awakening my salty/sweet taste buds, I tried dipping a tater tot into the chocolate fondue - it was AMAZING!!! I was delighted by my creation and made others try it, Brianne even liked it (despite others spitting it out)! It was very yummy, seriously - don't knock it until you try it! My other favorite pregnancy food arose from my friend Sandy's baby shower. One of her favorite foods is a toasted bagel with cream cheese and melted cheese on top of the cream cheese. GENIUS! Brad thinks it is gross, but I think it's pretty incredible.I still love the salty and sweet combination. The toasted bagel with cream cheese and melted cheese is still delicious - I eat that even when I'm not pregnant - although it's not exactly the healthiest...
I've also been in love with Potbelly's hot peppers. For those of you whose lives have not been enlightened by the deliciousness of Potbellly's, it's like a Subway or Quizno's type of sandwich place - but much better because of their homemade hot peppers. I often go there for lunch just because I want their hot pepers. I finally bought an entire jar of them to put on sandwiches I make at home! Unfortunately, the peppers often give me horrible heartburn - but pretty much anything gives me heartburn these days, so it's worth it! Reading this TOTALLY cracks me up. I still love Potbelly's hot peppers and even did a blog post on this: My Love Hate Relationship with Potbelly's Hot Peppers But the heartburn has been so much worse this time so I've been trying to lay off the hot peppers.
The emotional roller coaster continues, and I cry over anything. A few weeks ago I woke up at 2am and couldn't fall back asleep, so I watched the ridiculous movie "Jack Frost" that was on tv. The G-rated movie was about a cute little family struck by tragedy when the father (Michael Keaton) dies in a car crash Christmas eve. The following Christmas eve his spirit comes back to visit his son and wife (Kelly Preston) in the form of a walking, talking snow man. By the end of the movie, I was so overcome with emotion that I was sobbing and sobbing and finally woke up Brad to tell him how much I love him, etc. He saw the walking, talking snow man on tv and said, I love you too - but this is what you're crying about?!?!?! Which of course, made me cry even more! We have also watched the new Charlotte's Web movie on tv (again, resulting in many tears). Over the weekend, I watched a Beverly Hills 90210 rerun...which left me weeping as well. Let's just say that Brad has learned to keep tissues on hand at all times. Although I've had a few weepy crying days, Brad even commented recently that I haven't been as ridiculously emotional with this pregnancy. Hmmmm. But, I still regularly cry at tv shows and commercials.
Otherwise, we are doing well and getting ready for our May 09 arrival! My friend Dana helped us unpack a few weeks ago and brought her 3 year old son Connor with her. Watching Connor play with his trucks and run around the house was the first time we began to imagine what it will be like having a child in our house. Connor was so cute, he was helping us unpack and embarked upon a treasure hunt for all of the loose change that fell on the floor during our move. I told him he could keep any coins that he found! My mom told him that he was going to be rich - not knowing the word "rich," he said, "I don't think so, but I will have a lot of money!" We cracked up, he is such a sweet little boy. If only our baby will grow up to be that polite and sweet! :) We recently had a wonderful visit with Dana (Connor's mom) and she commented on what a sweet and smart boy Sam was. Of course, I think that Sam is amazing too. The physical impact he has had on our house was not quite what we imagined. Our house is FULL of toys and he has blazed quite a trail of things he has broken. But, I wouldn't have it any other way.
Thanks for all of your notes on the pregnancy blog, we love reading your messages! We will continue to keep you all updated and will post some pictures from our trip after we return in January. I added a few recent pictures from Hanukkah and holiday parties - enjoy! We hope that everyone has a happy holiday season and a wonderful kickoff to 2009!
We hope that everyone has a wonderful 2011!
Messages:
Posted Dec 23, 2008 4:16pm
Comparing pregnancy at 17 weeks with Sam and baby boy #2
However, the election and my blogging hiatus hit and I forgot about this goal. I remembered about it recently and was truly entertained to reflect back on my thoughts from my pregnancy with Sam vs. baby boy #2 So, here's the next installment.
Black font = 2008 blog.
Blue italics font = 2010 thoughts.
Posted Dec 23, 2008 4:05pm
19.5 Week Update - No News About the Gender, oy vey!
The big news is that we have no news. We had our 19.5 week appointment today - we were quite excited to be able to find out the gender. But, surprise surprise - the baby wasn't cooperating, I think its legs were crossed. It is shy and stubborn! Sam is still quite stubborn (gee I wonder where he gets that from), but he is definitely not shy! In fact, he frightens me sometimes with how comfortable he is around strangers. We were recently at a playground and he ran up and gave a Korean grandmother a huge hug - a woman who was a total stranger!
We were frustrated, but the good new is that the baby is doing very well and healthy. We were able to find out the sex of baby boy #2 very early (15 weeks since we have so many more ultraounds). It is approximately 10 inches long from head to heel, about the size of a banana. As I jokingly say, it is "half-baked" now that we are just about 20 weeks along (pregnancy is 40 weeks for those who may not know). We really don't care if it is a boy or a girl, we're just anxious to know. My grandfather Papi used to refer to a baby in utero with an unknown gender as "shim" - very Papi-esque for those of you who knew him. We ended up naming Sam for my grandfather Papi. Papi's name was Steven - hence Sam. His Hebrew name was Avraham which is Sam's Hebrew name. Papi was an amazing person and had a tremendous influence on my life, I even did a blog about him in October: Remembering Papi with our Annual Chocolate Ice Cream
But, we go back again Jan 6th at 1:45pm, we will have a big discussion with the baby before then to make sure that he/she is behaving that day! Everything is becoming much more real these days, the baby is moving around regularly and is quite active - but mostly when I am sitting still or laying down. Just when I'm ready to go to sleep, the baby decides it is time to play! This is definitely true with baby boy #2, he is most active when I'm ready to go to bed.
I suppose this is preparing me for what it will be actually be like when the baby is born! Brad, my parents, David, and Christine have all been able to feel the baby kick (or punch, who knows!). It is no longer just a fluttering, it is strong movement that I can regularly feel. The strongest movement happens when I'm eating, I think the baby already has some favorite foods: pizza, Chinese food, popcorn, and tofu panang curry - that's when the kicking has been the strongest! I still can't get enough pizza and LOVE tofu panang curry, despite the heartburn that it gives me. I definitely don't crave Chinese food and have only had it once during this pregnancy - during the mandatory "Jewish Christmas Chinese food dinner" when we made homemade wonton soup. Popcorn - eh, I like Costco's kettlecorn drizzled with chocolate, what's not to like!?!?
Brad is happy now that the kicking ia stronger, he was concerned that its future career as a professional soccer player was in jeopardy due to the soft kicks (as if the baby has any choice of playing soccer or not given my dad and brother's love of soccer!). In fact, the baby is moving like crazy even as I write this blog entry. Sam is actually quite talented at kicking balls and was able to kick a ball before he could even walk! We have signed him up for a toddler soccer class (not to actually learn to play soccer but just because he loves kicking balls around and it's an activity Brad & Sam can do together). Here are a few photos of Sam in his first soccer class:
 |
| Future Pele! |
 |
| Stacking the cones is a very important part of soccer. |
 |
| He has a crush on his soccer coach. All soccer coaches give hugs, right? |
 |
| VERY happy boy! |
 |
| He also discovered his belly button that day. Very exciting. |
We've received a number of holiday cards addressed to "Rebecca, Brad, & Baby Geller-Cheney" - kind of catches me off-guard a bit. It's also a bit odd when people at work or elsewhere greet me by saying "Hey Mama!" I'm like, oh honey, my child is never going to call me Mama, I'm not that southern! One secretary at work even greets me by saying "so, how are y'all doing?" - referring to both me and the baby. It's amazing how quickly I've become a twosome! I had my first dream about what the baby will actually look like when it's born. In my dream (before we knew the gender) - the baby was a girl with lots of dark hair and kind of looked like me as a baby, except she was sitting up on the first day of her life. I know, we're having a genius child :) I have crazy dreams with this pregnancy too. I recently dreamed that we had a girl (even though we know it is DEFINITELY a boy) and the girl was an adult literally 2 hours after birth. Doesn't take a genius to tell me that the dream means that I don't want Sam to grow up too quickly!
My tummy has been growing very quickly lately and I am much more aware of it, especially the other day when a waiter was weaving us through some very tight spaces to get to our table in the restaurant - I was like, that's so not happening with my belly! Brad has been STRONGLY urging me to park my car in our 2 car garage in our new house (aka making me). I think I am projecting my growing tummy onto the large size of my car trying to fit into the small garage. Literally, every night when I pull in the garage, I am convinced that my car is too big to fit in the garage and that I'm going to scrape the sides. Brad reassures me, yes it will fit, just be careful....as I hold my breath and slowly inch forward (sometimes closing my eyes!). Yes, this is a constant area of debate in our house! I'm now much more experienced parking the car in the garage. However, I was recently driving Brad's car and lightly tapped the side mirror on the side of the garage door - which left a little scrape. Brad was worried that he'd have to get it painted because it would get rusty. I said "well, the scrapes on the side mirrors of my car have never gotten rusty, so I wouldn't worry about it too much." Brad said, "you have scrapes on your side mirrors too!?!?!" Oh please, you expect me to park my car in the garage EVERY day and never give a love tap to the side of the garage? Let's get real!
I finally had to give in and purchase a maternity winter coat which was much needed as we're heading to snowy New England tomorrow. Afterwards, we head from Vermont and Maine to our last pre-baby vacation in beautiful Puerto Rico! I've learned that this kind of vacation is referred to as a "babymoon." So anyway, while I was buying a maternity winter coat, I also had to purchase a maternity bathing suit and a few summer tops/capri pants. I am now set for every season, oy vey! Sadly, I haven't had any need for the maternity bathing suit this time. Brad was invited on a few awesome work trips to Florida and Hawaii in February/March (which we usually turn into vacations!) which he declined because of the March due date.
I have ordered all of my maternity clothes online from Old Navy or Target, I love the pre-holiday free shipping deals. When my recent shipment arrived from Old Navy, I started trying everything on and could not even get my arm through the sleeve of the first shirt! I started freaking out and was like "Geez! How much pregnancy weight have I gained already!?!? And I'm gaining weight in my arms??? How strange and disturbing!" In my momentary panic, I held up the shirt and was frozen by how tiny it looked. Either I was getting really big really quickly or this shirt was tiny! I finally looked at the tag and saw that it was an extra small (sent to me by mistake!). Whew!!! The other clothes fit me fine and I still have plenty of room for my tummy to keep growing in them. Brad laughed at the ridiculously small shirt, he's convinced that they made it for a pregnancy pre-teenager! My very thin (non-pregnant) friend Christine came over and she couldn't even fit her arm all the way through the sleeve! It gave us quite a chuckle. I've had the opposite problem during this pregnancy. I lost a LOT of weight in between pregnancies and am just now approaching the weight I was when I FIRST got pregnant with Sam. As a result, none of my maternity pants fit me anymore! The legs were like clown pants and I absolutely hate spending $ on maternity clothes. Thankfully I borrowed a bunch of stuff from people, especially some fabulous capri pants from my best friend Melissa - who is like 5'10" and her capri pants fit me like regular pants! Hilarious.
I'm hungry all the time and try to eat about every 2-3 hours. On lazy weekend mornings, I have been waking up very early (usually 6 or 7am), eat my first breakfast, then get back in bed and sleep some more. We joke that I've been fed and then need to take my morning nap! OH HOW I MISS THOSE LAZY DAYS! This is probably one of the biggest differences between the pregnancies. When I was tired then, I could sleep in forever and basically hibernate. Now, sleeping in past 730am feels like a huge luxury! The other day we all slept until 745am and it was WONDERFUL. However, I still feel like I need to eat a snack every 2-3 hours!
I've been really disgusted by meat over the last few months. Brad made a roasted chicken for dinner recently, I walked into the house and almost fell over, the smell was HORRIBLE (to me)! I went straight upstairs and wouldn't come back down until the smell and food was gone! I particularly dislike beef and have eaten it only once in the last few months (a fabulous steak panini at Whole Foods in Boston). I still eat turkey sandwiches and chicken occasionally, but I'm much happier eating vegetarian - I especially like eating beans (lucky Brad!). This is DEFINITELY still true. I've occasionally been able to eat meat but the smell really disgusts me. When we were in Vegas in November, Brad wanted to go to a steakhouse, but there was no way I could stomach that. The smells...uch. Unfortunately my severe anemia is partially caused by the lack of red meat in my diet. But, I still like eating beans and occasionally indulge in a Taco Bell burrito with meat. Yo quiero Taco Bell! I know Taco Bell is really bad Mexican food, but I seriously love it. I have no idea. Don't ask.
My food cravings are as strange as ever. My recent discovery was an amazing treat concocted at a Hanukkah party! She made tater tots instead of latkes and had chocolate fondue to dip various things into. After dipping a pretzel into the chocolate and awakening my salty/sweet taste buds, I tried dipping a tater tot into the chocolate fondue - it was AMAZING!!! I was delighted by my creation and made others try it, Brianne even liked it (despite others spitting it out)! It was very yummy, seriously - don't knock it until you try it! My other favorite pregnancy food arose from my friend Sandy's baby shower. One of her favorite foods is a toasted bagel with cream cheese and melted cheese on top of the cream cheese. GENIUS! Brad thinks it is gross, but I think it's pretty incredible.I still love the salty and sweet combination. The toasted bagel with cream cheese and melted cheese is still delicious - I eat that even when I'm not pregnant - although it's not exactly the healthiest...
I've also been in love with Potbelly's hot peppers. For those of you whose lives have not been enlightened by the deliciousness of Potbellly's, it's like a Subway or Quizno's type of sandwich place - but much better because of their homemade hot peppers. I often go there for lunch just because I want their hot pepers. I finally bought an entire jar of them to put on sandwiches I make at home! Unfortunately, the peppers often give me horrible heartburn - but pretty much anything gives me heartburn these days, so it's worth it! Reading this TOTALLY cracks me up. I still love Potbelly's hot peppers and even did a blog post on this: My Love Hate Relationship with Potbelly's Hot Peppers But the heartburn has been so much worse this time so I've been trying to lay off the hot peppers.
The emotional roller coaster continues, and I cry over anything. A few weeks ago I woke up at 2am and couldn't fall back asleep, so I watched the ridiculous movie "Jack Frost" that was on tv. The G-rated movie was about a cute little family struck by tragedy when the father (Michael Keaton) dies in a car crash Christmas eve. The following Christmas eve his spirit comes back to visit his son and wife (Kelly Preston) in the form of a walking, talking snow man. By the end of the movie, I was so overcome with emotion that I was sobbing and sobbing and finally woke up Brad to tell him how much I love him, etc. He saw the walking, talking snow man on tv and said, I love you too - but this is what you're crying about?!?!?! Which of course, made me cry even more! We have also watched the new Charlotte's Web movie on tv (again, resulting in many tears). Over the weekend, I watched a Beverly Hills 90210 rerun...which left me weeping as well. Let's just say that Brad has learned to keep tissues on hand at all times. Although I've had a few weepy crying days, Brad even commented recently that I haven't been as ridiculously emotional with this pregnancy. Hmmmm. But, I still regularly cry at tv shows and commercials.
Otherwise, we are doing well and getting ready for our May 09 arrival! My friend Dana helped us unpack a few weeks ago and brought her 3 year old son Connor with her. Watching Connor play with his trucks and run around the house was the first time we began to imagine what it will be like having a child in our house. Connor was so cute, he was helping us unpack and embarked upon a treasure hunt for all of the loose change that fell on the floor during our move. I told him he could keep any coins that he found! My mom told him that he was going to be rich - not knowing the word "rich," he said, "I don't think so, but I will have a lot of money!" We cracked up, he is such a sweet little boy. If only our baby will grow up to be that polite and sweet! :) We recently had a wonderful visit with Dana (Connor's mom) and she commented on what a sweet and smart boy Sam was. Of course, I think that Sam is amazing too. The physical impact he has had on our house was not quite what we imagined. Our house is FULL of toys and he has blazed quite a trail of things he has broken. But, I wouldn't have it any other way.
Thanks for all of your notes on the pregnancy blog, we love reading your messages! We will continue to keep you all updated and will post some pictures from our trip after we return in January. I added a few recent pictures from Hanukkah and holiday parties - enjoy! We hope that everyone has a happy holiday season and a wonderful kickoff to 2009!
We hope that everyone has a wonderful 2011!
Messages:
Posted Dec 24, 2008 7:09pm
by Anonymous
you are hilarious! aside from the emotional rollercoaster (ie crying at kid movies), i never had anything quite so funny during my pregnancies:-) enjoy your babymoon. don't worry, you can still travel when the baby comes (our kids are world travelers), but it's definitely easier to travel with family! happy channukah.
Posted Dec 23, 2008 7:19pm
by lisa plotkin
Hi, Bec and Brad! I'm sad again that I'm so far away and can't be experiencing you guys as you go through this pregnancy! I want more PICTURES, WOMAN! :-). Please. :-). I love that your emotions are so nuts, but that you can still talk about them and get a chuckle out of it (or at least, that Brad can get a chuckle!) I miss you!!!
Posted Dec 23, 2008 5:03pm
by Anonymous: Becca, I always found the maternity bathing suit a real killer - it made it seem all too real (and me all too fat). Have a wonderful holiday.
Posted Dec 23, 2008 4:16pm
by RB ...
At least you are not scarfing down pickled herring, which was Jenn's favorite pregnancy food....
Jenn is pregnant right now too and still loves her pickled herring! :)
We welcome any messages from 2011 too!
Jenn is pregnant right now too and still loves her pickled herring! :)
We welcome any messages from 2011 too!
Thursday, January 06, 2011
My Split Lifestyle
I was recently at a Mommy & Me activity and one of my good friends asked me how things are going at work. Another mom, who I didn't know, overheard this and we had the following conversation:
Her: So, do you work part-time?
Me: Yes, I work 3 days/week
Her: What do you do?
Me: I'm a lawyer.
Her: (giving me a dumb-founded look) REALLY?
Me: No, I'm kidding.
Her: Oh ok, I didn't think you could be a part-time lawyer.
Me: No, I was joking about kidding - I really am a lawyer.
At this point in the conversations I apologized for being a smart ass and didn't mean to be obnoxious. We laughed it off and chatted for a while - but it reminded me of my split lifestyle and how very different my two worlds are. I am very very blessed to work for a big law firm (500+ attorneys across the world) that allows me to work "part-time." I am in the office Wed, Thurs, Frid and work from home as needed on Mon/Tues of each week. So basically, my week is split in half. Sat - Tues, I am very much involved in Mommy & Me playgroups, Little Gym, etc (albeit on my blackberry...). Then, Wed - Frid, I'm corporate lawyer.
Inevitably it comes out in conversation on the playground every now and then that I'm not a full-time stay at home mom (even though I look and act like it on Mon/Tues of each week). When other moms find out that not only do I work part-time, but that I'm a lawyer at a big firm - they look at me like I have two heads. I think it's pretty unusual for a big firm to allow me such a wonderfully flexible schedule.
When I prepared to return to work from my 6 month maternity leave with Sam, I had a hard time envisioning what my life would look like. Every mom has such tough decisions to make about whether to go back to work, whether to stay home with a new baby, and whether to do a combination of both. I was so lucky to have a 6 month maternity leave and a flexible employer.
I feel like a lot of moms judge other moms about the decisions whether or not to work - and we really do ourselves a disservice by judging like this. Being a mom is hard work no matter what and we really need to support each other. Being a stay at home mom is SO hard. I have such respect for my friends who are home with their kids full-time. My days at work are usually more relaxing than my days home with Sam. I can actually go to the bathroom by myself! No poopie diapers! I can actually catch up on email! Moms who work out of the house full-time also have tough challenges to find suitable child care, a decent schedule, and feelings of guilt.
For me, I needed to find something in between. Although I loved my 6 month maternity leave, I don't think I'd be happy being a full-time stay at home mom. I also don't think I'd be happy working 60+ hours/week in the office. I feel like my flexible schedule has been an amazing gift that allows me to continue my career but still enjoy so much time with Sam - a gift that I will forever be grateful for. However, I am looking forward to having time home with him this spring/summer on maternity leave with baby boy #2!
Leaving him Wednesday mornings to go to work is tough because it's the transition from my 4 days home with him into the 3 days at work. But, we've found a great routine and excellent childcare in a in-home childcare that has 5-6 kids and 2 teachers. My friend sent her daughter there and LOVED it which is how we found it. We've been extremely happy with the care.
My mom frequently says that when she used to drop me off at childcare (she also worked part-time while we were young), I would cry and scream every single day and it would break her heart. Luckily, Sam gives us a quick hug and runs to play with his friends without even batting an eye that we're leaving. Some days we're lucky to even get a hug goodbye!
As much as I cherish my split lifestyle, there are some days when it is very challenging. Yesterday morning was one of the hardest I've had in a very long time. Because I worked from home during the days between Christmas & New Year's, I was home with Sam for 13 days straight which was the longest amount of time I'd been with him non-stop since I was on maternity leave. Usually Brad drops him off Wed am b/c I have a hard time Wed am after being with him for 4 days, much less 13 days. Brad had to leave crazy early for a work breakfast so Sam and I had the morning to ourselves. He was in such a sweet, cuddly, silly mood yesterday morning that I just didn't want to leave the house to drop him off. We played for a solid 2.5 hours before I had to leave to drop him off...leaving him was really hard and I could feel the tears coming but I waited until I got to the car.
I was worried that Sam would have a hard time with the adjustment back to the babysitter's too, but he just gave me a hug and ran off to play (and drag his cooler on the ground, one of his favorite things to do). That at least made it easier and then I cried for another half hour on the way to work. I suppose my raging pregnancy hormones MIGHT have something to do with the crazy tears, but it was not fun and I was very happy to get back home to him last night!
Amidst the tears on the way to work, I called my mom to commiserate and she said - "Just think that it is a GOOD thing that you feel sad when you drop him off. How many moms are HAPPY to drop off their kids and don't want to deal with them?" Granted, there are certainly days when I'm home with Sam all day and very ready for Brad to come home so I can have a break. Taking time for myself and away from my child is a very healthy thing - but I am so blessed to have a child who I not only love, but thoroughly enjoy.
Her: So, do you work part-time?
Me: Yes, I work 3 days/week
Her: What do you do?
Me: I'm a lawyer.
Her: (giving me a dumb-founded look) REALLY?
Me: No, I'm kidding.
Her: Oh ok, I didn't think you could be a part-time lawyer.
Me: No, I was joking about kidding - I really am a lawyer.
At this point in the conversations I apologized for being a smart ass and didn't mean to be obnoxious. We laughed it off and chatted for a while - but it reminded me of my split lifestyle and how very different my two worlds are. I am very very blessed to work for a big law firm (500+ attorneys across the world) that allows me to work "part-time." I am in the office Wed, Thurs, Frid and work from home as needed on Mon/Tues of each week. So basically, my week is split in half. Sat - Tues, I am very much involved in Mommy & Me playgroups, Little Gym, etc (albeit on my blackberry...). Then, Wed - Frid, I'm corporate lawyer.
Inevitably it comes out in conversation on the playground every now and then that I'm not a full-time stay at home mom (even though I look and act like it on Mon/Tues of each week). When other moms find out that not only do I work part-time, but that I'm a lawyer at a big firm - they look at me like I have two heads. I think it's pretty unusual for a big firm to allow me such a wonderfully flexible schedule.
When I prepared to return to work from my 6 month maternity leave with Sam, I had a hard time envisioning what my life would look like. Every mom has such tough decisions to make about whether to go back to work, whether to stay home with a new baby, and whether to do a combination of both. I was so lucky to have a 6 month maternity leave and a flexible employer.
I feel like a lot of moms judge other moms about the decisions whether or not to work - and we really do ourselves a disservice by judging like this. Being a mom is hard work no matter what and we really need to support each other. Being a stay at home mom is SO hard. I have such respect for my friends who are home with their kids full-time. My days at work are usually more relaxing than my days home with Sam. I can actually go to the bathroom by myself! No poopie diapers! I can actually catch up on email! Moms who work out of the house full-time also have tough challenges to find suitable child care, a decent schedule, and feelings of guilt.
For me, I needed to find something in between. Although I loved my 6 month maternity leave, I don't think I'd be happy being a full-time stay at home mom. I also don't think I'd be happy working 60+ hours/week in the office. I feel like my flexible schedule has been an amazing gift that allows me to continue my career but still enjoy so much time with Sam - a gift that I will forever be grateful for. However, I am looking forward to having time home with him this spring/summer on maternity leave with baby boy #2!
Leaving him Wednesday mornings to go to work is tough because it's the transition from my 4 days home with him into the 3 days at work. But, we've found a great routine and excellent childcare in a in-home childcare that has 5-6 kids and 2 teachers. My friend sent her daughter there and LOVED it which is how we found it. We've been extremely happy with the care.
My mom frequently says that when she used to drop me off at childcare (she also worked part-time while we were young), I would cry and scream every single day and it would break her heart. Luckily, Sam gives us a quick hug and runs to play with his friends without even batting an eye that we're leaving. Some days we're lucky to even get a hug goodbye!
As much as I cherish my split lifestyle, there are some days when it is very challenging. Yesterday morning was one of the hardest I've had in a very long time. Because I worked from home during the days between Christmas & New Year's, I was home with Sam for 13 days straight which was the longest amount of time I'd been with him non-stop since I was on maternity leave. Usually Brad drops him off Wed am b/c I have a hard time Wed am after being with him for 4 days, much less 13 days. Brad had to leave crazy early for a work breakfast so Sam and I had the morning to ourselves. He was in such a sweet, cuddly, silly mood yesterday morning that I just didn't want to leave the house to drop him off. We played for a solid 2.5 hours before I had to leave to drop him off...leaving him was really hard and I could feel the tears coming but I waited until I got to the car.
I was worried that Sam would have a hard time with the adjustment back to the babysitter's too, but he just gave me a hug and ran off to play (and drag his cooler on the ground, one of his favorite things to do). That at least made it easier and then I cried for another half hour on the way to work. I suppose my raging pregnancy hormones MIGHT have something to do with the crazy tears, but it was not fun and I was very happy to get back home to him last night!
Amidst the tears on the way to work, I called my mom to commiserate and she said - "Just think that it is a GOOD thing that you feel sad when you drop him off. How many moms are HAPPY to drop off their kids and don't want to deal with them?" Granted, there are certainly days when I'm home with Sam all day and very ready for Brad to come home so I can have a break. Taking time for myself and away from my child is a very healthy thing - but I am so blessed to have a child who I not only love, but thoroughly enjoy.
Monday, January 03, 2011
Beginning of Third Trimester of Pregnancy
Today marks the beginning of the third (and final!) trimester of my pregnancy with baby boy #2. Woo hoo, 28 weeks! As most people in my life know, Sam was born 2 months early at 32 weeks. Over and over again, people have asked me things like "will they put you on bedrest given your history with Sam?" or "are the doctors doing anything differently with this pregnancy to prevent pre-term labor again?" or "are you worried about having a baby early again?" or "do they know what caused the pre-term labor?" or "are you considered high-risk?"
For starters, YES, I am worried about having this baby early again. Having Sam at 32 weeks and spending 3 weeks in the NICU was pretty traumatic to say the least. It drives me bonkers that they have no idea what caused his early arrival. My pregnancy with Sam was completely normal without any problems. I had even seen my obstetrician 3 days before I went into labor and everything was fine. After I had Sam, they ran many tests to see if they could figure out what happened - but everything was inconclusive. Their best guess is that there was a weakness in the membrane that ruptured, but they don't know if it was specific to that membrane with that pregnancy or if it will be repeated in future pregnancies. I HATE this answer. I hate not knowing what caused it.
My ob has been sending me to a maternal fetal specialist for high resolution ultrasounds every 2 weeks, plus my regular ob appointments (I spend a lot of time at the dr office). When I was pregnant with Sam I only had two high resolution ultrasounds - one at 12 weeks when they did the nuchal fold test and one at 20 weeks to check the anatomy (and where we found out the sex!). Going every 2 weeks is a LOT of high resolution ultrasounds (3D type). They had several guesses as to what may have caused the pre-term labor with Sam and have monitored me for all of those potential scenarios. But, none of them have materialized. This either means that A) whatever happened with Sam is not occurring in this pregnancy or B) they have no idea what caused it with Sam and it could recur with this one.
The lack of answers is very hard for me to accept and come to terms with. I plan for everything in my life and it's hard for me to wrap my head around the unknown. I am not considered a "high risk pregnancy" because everything is progressing normally - they just want to try to catch anything in case something should arise given my history. So far there's no reason to think I'll need to be on bedrest...I can't imagine what it would be like to be on bedrest with a very active toddler in the house.
The one big change I've made with this pregnancy is to really take it easy more than I did before. Although my doctor swears up and down that my busy lifestyle did not cause the pre-term labor with Sam, he has said that I need to listen to my body. If I'm feeling tired or my back hurts, that's my body telling me to take it easy - and I need to rest. Part of me will always wonder if there's something I could have done to prevent Sam's early arrival (ie, slow down). So, starting third trimester (today!), I'm really going to slow down and take it easy. I will rest when I'm tired (as much as Sam will allow me to!), try to get some sleep (as much as my growing belly will allow!), and try not to stress too much (as much as my worrisome mind will allow!). This is not the easiest goal for me to achieve - I have a very hard time "taking it easy." But I'm certainly going to try!
I'm now into the viability stage which is equally relieving and terrifying. I know that a premature baby born at 32 weeks can grow into a totally normal child - and am constantly reminded of that with Sam who is ahead on most milestones. But, I cannot imagine enduring another NICU experience. I know that we are so blessed to have so so many friends and relatives who are here to help with everything should we have to go through that again - but my heart breaks to imagine another NICU stay. The day I got discharged from the hospital and had to go home without my baby was one of the most emotional and agonizing days of my life and definitely not something I want to repeat.
I know some women who absolutely love being pregnant and relish every moment of it. I am not one of those women. I am excited about the baby who will join our family and the wonderful changes our life has in store with another son. I enjoy his active kicking in my belly (he has had quite a bout of hiccups this weekend, which Sam never had). However, I have worried continuously throughout this pregnancy. I was petrified of miscarriage during first trimester (I had a miscarriage before I was pregnant with Sam). I was able to relax some during second trimester, but as viability approached (24-25 wks), my nerves have taken over once again and I have a hard time trying to ignore my anxiety about pre-term labor.
Right now I just try to keep my eyes on the prize. I feel like if i can make it to 35-36 weeks, I will have "made it." A friend recently had a baby at 40 weeks and asked me if I had a lot of back pain the last few weeks...it was hard for me to answer her by saying, "i don't know, I never got that far in my pregnancy."
Thank you in advance for everyone who has helped me throughout this pregnancy with support, encouragement, and excitement. It hasn't been the easiest of pregnancies (see Top 5 Worst Mommy Moments which has continued to occur throughout the pregnancy, as recently as last week...it's miserable). I've had some challenging blood pressure issues (my blood pressure has been crazy crazy LOW and I regularly see a cardiologist to try to regulate my blood pressure to prevent me from the dizziness, fainting episodes), and I've been severely anemic. Oh the joys!
But, these are all just things I've had to deal with - the baby is doing amazingly well. He weighs about 2.5 pounds which places him right at the 50th percentile for this stage in the pregnancy. He has now turned and is head down which is good too! Let's just hope he stays in there for another few months. I aim to make it to March - any point in March would be ok with me (my due date is March 28).
Here's to hoping for a long long third trimester of pregnancy!
For starters, YES, I am worried about having this baby early again. Having Sam at 32 weeks and spending 3 weeks in the NICU was pretty traumatic to say the least. It drives me bonkers that they have no idea what caused his early arrival. My pregnancy with Sam was completely normal without any problems. I had even seen my obstetrician 3 days before I went into labor and everything was fine. After I had Sam, they ran many tests to see if they could figure out what happened - but everything was inconclusive. Their best guess is that there was a weakness in the membrane that ruptured, but they don't know if it was specific to that membrane with that pregnancy or if it will be repeated in future pregnancies. I HATE this answer. I hate not knowing what caused it.
My ob has been sending me to a maternal fetal specialist for high resolution ultrasounds every 2 weeks, plus my regular ob appointments (I spend a lot of time at the dr office). When I was pregnant with Sam I only had two high resolution ultrasounds - one at 12 weeks when they did the nuchal fold test and one at 20 weeks to check the anatomy (and where we found out the sex!). Going every 2 weeks is a LOT of high resolution ultrasounds (3D type). They had several guesses as to what may have caused the pre-term labor with Sam and have monitored me for all of those potential scenarios. But, none of them have materialized. This either means that A) whatever happened with Sam is not occurring in this pregnancy or B) they have no idea what caused it with Sam and it could recur with this one.
The lack of answers is very hard for me to accept and come to terms with. I plan for everything in my life and it's hard for me to wrap my head around the unknown. I am not considered a "high risk pregnancy" because everything is progressing normally - they just want to try to catch anything in case something should arise given my history. So far there's no reason to think I'll need to be on bedrest...I can't imagine what it would be like to be on bedrest with a very active toddler in the house.
The one big change I've made with this pregnancy is to really take it easy more than I did before. Although my doctor swears up and down that my busy lifestyle did not cause the pre-term labor with Sam, he has said that I need to listen to my body. If I'm feeling tired or my back hurts, that's my body telling me to take it easy - and I need to rest. Part of me will always wonder if there's something I could have done to prevent Sam's early arrival (ie, slow down). So, starting third trimester (today!), I'm really going to slow down and take it easy. I will rest when I'm tired (as much as Sam will allow me to!), try to get some sleep (as much as my growing belly will allow!), and try not to stress too much (as much as my worrisome mind will allow!). This is not the easiest goal for me to achieve - I have a very hard time "taking it easy." But I'm certainly going to try!
I'm now into the viability stage which is equally relieving and terrifying. I know that a premature baby born at 32 weeks can grow into a totally normal child - and am constantly reminded of that with Sam who is ahead on most milestones. But, I cannot imagine enduring another NICU experience. I know that we are so blessed to have so so many friends and relatives who are here to help with everything should we have to go through that again - but my heart breaks to imagine another NICU stay. The day I got discharged from the hospital and had to go home without my baby was one of the most emotional and agonizing days of my life and definitely not something I want to repeat.
I know some women who absolutely love being pregnant and relish every moment of it. I am not one of those women. I am excited about the baby who will join our family and the wonderful changes our life has in store with another son. I enjoy his active kicking in my belly (he has had quite a bout of hiccups this weekend, which Sam never had). However, I have worried continuously throughout this pregnancy. I was petrified of miscarriage during first trimester (I had a miscarriage before I was pregnant with Sam). I was able to relax some during second trimester, but as viability approached (24-25 wks), my nerves have taken over once again and I have a hard time trying to ignore my anxiety about pre-term labor.
Right now I just try to keep my eyes on the prize. I feel like if i can make it to 35-36 weeks, I will have "made it." A friend recently had a baby at 40 weeks and asked me if I had a lot of back pain the last few weeks...it was hard for me to answer her by saying, "i don't know, I never got that far in my pregnancy."
Thank you in advance for everyone who has helped me throughout this pregnancy with support, encouragement, and excitement. It hasn't been the easiest of pregnancies (see Top 5 Worst Mommy Moments which has continued to occur throughout the pregnancy, as recently as last week...it's miserable). I've had some challenging blood pressure issues (my blood pressure has been crazy crazy LOW and I regularly see a cardiologist to try to regulate my blood pressure to prevent me from the dizziness, fainting episodes), and I've been severely anemic. Oh the joys!
But, these are all just things I've had to deal with - the baby is doing amazingly well. He weighs about 2.5 pounds which places him right at the 50th percentile for this stage in the pregnancy. He has now turned and is head down which is good too! Let's just hope he stays in there for another few months. I aim to make it to March - any point in March would be ok with me (my due date is March 28).
Here's to hoping for a long long third trimester of pregnancy!
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