Liquid Life

Cheeky Baby

2008-11-26T21:15:00Z

Update : You can see baby Smith’s sweet face here.

Today we went in for another sonogram. It’s been 13 weeks since we’ve had one, so needless to say we were both extremely excited to see baby Smith. I was especially looking forward to confirming, yet again, that he is, indeed, a boy. I have been putting off washing his blue clothes just in case.

Everything went very well and the baby seems to be doing great. He is running out of room, but other than that he seems perfectly healthy and happy. He weighs in at a whopping 5 lb 1 ounce, measures a week ahead and is already in a head-down position, which is wonderful because I was a breech baby and my mother never let me forget that.

Baby Smith was in a pretty good mood and cooperated with the tech. We got to see his sweet profile and face. He definitely has his dad’s nose, but his lips and chin are mine. So funny how that works out. He also gave us a huge yawn, which was definitely the cutest thing I have ever seen and a nice treat.

One of my questions was about his hair—does he have any? I haven’t had any heartburn at all and was afraid baby Smith would be completely bald (I read somewhere that the more heartburn you have, the hairier your baby is). However, the tech pointed out a little tuft and said he’s got plenty! Mamma is pretty happy about that.

As for his gender—he is most definitely a boy. I mean, there is absolutely no way those parts could belong to a girl. No way! So, I am going to go ahead and wash all of his clothes, blue outfits included.

Despite the fact that the sono went so well, I have some not-so-good news. An hour after we left the doctor’s office, they called and said I need to come in for a CT scan and meet with my neurosurgeon. I wasn’t supposed to have this done until February, but there are some concerns about the headaches I’ve been having (they seem to be increasing in frequency), so the doctors want to be on the safe side and check things out.

I am going in on Tuesday, hopefully, to get AVM-related things checked out. I hope all is well and that my headaches are not an issue. I really don’t want to be hospitalized, to be put on bed-rest, to have brain surgery or to have baby Smith way before his due date, so please pray with us that we can make it through another 33 days without incident.

Diabetes and Anemia

2008-11-17T22:11:00Z

First of all, my fabulous husband is speaking at yet another conference in San Francisco this week and, while I am very proud of him, I miss him so much. I am feeling sorry for my big and pregnant self over here, even though things aren’t that bad. For example, today I went shopping and spent several hours staring at baby clothes and trying to make some last minute decisions. I must say I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

But I digress. We had our regular pre-natal check up on Friday and today I found out that I am slightly anemic. Now, I am not sure what the difference is between full-blown anemia and slight anemia. My doctor doesn’t seem to think mine is that big of a deal, but I still wonder. Now I have to take those dreadful pre-natal vitamins loaded with iron, the ones that made me so terribly sick in the first trimester. We’ll see if it works.

I also finally got my gestational diabetes results back (I tell you, doctor’s offices and labs are never in a big hurry when it comes to test results). I passed my three-hour test, which means I don’t have gestational diabetes. I was so incredibly thankful for this news and it’s not because I couldn’t imagine not stuffing my face with ice-cream every night. No, it’s mostly because I didn’t want to have to check my blood sugar four times a day, cut back on those delicious carbohydrates or give birth to a 10 lb (4.5 kg) baby (no offense).

At any rate, we are going to have a sonogram next week to see how baby Smith is doing in terms of weight, position, etc. Needless to say neither of us can wait to see the little man. I am going to have to ask the tech if the baby is still, indeed, a boy. I hope the answer is in the affirmative because we’ve got too much blue going on around here and, at this point, I am too tired for any kind of change of plan.

I hope we get some good pics of his little profile, so stay tuned!

Thirty Weeks

2008-11-02T23:58:00Z

It’s hard to believe that we only have eight more weeks until baby Smith is born. So far, the third trimester hasn’t been too bad, but I can definitely tell the difference. I am back to frequent potty breaks and long naps, plus I feel a lot larger, move a lot slower, and just feel ready to have this baby.

Even though he recently changed positions, we still have issues with me being on either side. Right side is painful for me because of inflamed cartilage in my ribs; I can’t be on my back for obvious reasons; so, that leaves the left side, which baby Smith doesn’t like. He puts up a fight every single time, so going to sleep and staying that way through the night has certainly been very challenging.

He has also been getting hiccups two-three times a day, every day and, if he is awake for those, I can tell he doesn’t like it. It feels like he is trying to arch his back or wiggle or shake it off. I feel bad for him, but there is really nothing I can do.

I feel like the time has flown unbelievably quickly and it’s hard to believe that our sweet baby will be here next month! We’ve started taking our prenatal classes and I am also about to start making final preparations, so baby’s imminent arrival feels more and more real every single day.

Craving

2008-10-22T21:30:00Z

I just experienced this really intense pregnancy craving moment. I think baby Smith is hitting a growth spurt because he has been asleep most of the day and I have felt out-of-this-world hungry all day. As soon as I get done eating, I start thinking about the next meal. Good times.

I managed to keep things in check pretty well throughout the day, but then suddenly, just as rain started pouring down, I experienced one of those have-to-have-this-food NOW! intense cravings. GIVE! ME! FOOD! NOW! PITAS! HUMMUS! PITASHUMMUSPITASHUMMAS! PITAS WITH HUMMUS AND VEGGIES! NOW!

I have not experienced a craving this strong up to this point, so it was a little funny and a little frightening. If you know me, you know I hate driving in the rain and I would never ever go out in the rain, unless I absolutely had to. Yep, I hate driving in the rain that much.

But I tell you what, I couldn’t get out of the house and get to the store fast enough. I didn’t care that I hadn’t showered, that my clothes weren’t matching, and that it was raining cats and dogs. I had to get to those pitas and hummus as if they needed quadruple bypass surgery and were going to die if I didn’t get there fast enough. Something like that.

I am happy to report that whole wheat pitas, hummus, tomatoes, olives, avocado, and spinach were successfully rescued and are still spewed all over my kitchen counter. Meanwhile, I have been feasting on this final product. All I can say is yum and, excuse me, while I get some more.

Teenage Mother

2008-10-20T16:58:00Z

Our saga with attic critters continues. Today I had a guy come out to set some traps for squirrels. He said we definitely have a family of squirrels cozying up to our attic. Not good. We should be catching at least one of them within the next five days.

At the end of the service call, the guy asked me if I was planning on going back to school. I had to ask him what he meant because, as far as I am concerned, I’ve done all the schooling I can handle. So, in response, he goes, ‘Well, you know, after you have your baby, you gonna go finish school?’

That’s when it dawned on me that he thought I was a high school drop-out, having me a baby. I had to laugh. I said, ‘Sir, with all due respect, I’m 28 years old and I have a Master’s degree. I don’t think I’ll be going back to school any time soon.’

He told me I looked no older than 17 and very athletic, so he thought I wasn’t through with high school. Because, you know, one can’t be athletic past high school. Anyway, it was nice of him to mistake me for a teenager, I really needed this today, in the midst of all the other life stuff that’s had me paralyzed with anxiety and feeling all adult and responsible.

By the way, I had my glucose screen on Friday and found out bright and early this morning that I didn’t do well on it. In fact, I did really bad. So, I have to go in for a 3-hour fasting glucose test sometime this week or next. I so wanted to eat loads of dessert this weekend, before the results came in, because I knew if there was a problem, it might be a few months before I have any sweets. I so should have done that, why didn’t I?