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prego saucy: July 17 - September 13, 2006
July 17, 2006
I've been preoccupied and anxious the past two days since the EPT flashed "pregnant" at me. I cannot think of anything besides being pregnant --unbelievable! -- and I'm especially concerned about miscarriage due to my age and hypothyroidism. I've started taking my .025mg of levoxyl again just in case.
I'm eager to be far enough along for an ultrasound to know that everything is ok.
July 19, 2006 Goodbye ankles!
July 25, 2006 Ankles are back!
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I saw my primary practitioner today. She put me on levoxyl for my thyroid, and referred me to the seemingly very groovy Tucson Women's Birth Center.
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As far as food goes, anything starchy is great and comforting. I craved roasted potatoes for a few days; yesterday and today it's been grilled cheese sandwiches with pickles. Anything salty and cold, cold water go down real well.
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I am not nauseated, but I am overwhelmingly tired and my legs feel weak.
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I know I need to get to the gym to continue weight training, but I just want to hibernate. In fact, I'd rather spend the next nine months feathering the nest than working at a job; I've lost all focus and any commitment I once felt for it. (Which wasn't considerable, but still...)
July 31, 2006 I love soup; it's one of the few things I can eat without feeling bloated. I am also craving salty and spicy things, and lots of cold water. Anything tart or fermented is unappealing; I need to switch to cottage cheese from yogurt.
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My mouth is over-salivating.
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I'm fatigued: lethargic and heavy feeling. I have heat rash all over my thighs and behind my knees.
However, this is all pretty weird and cool; I really don't mind what's going on.
August 3, 2006 The food cravings -- and aversions -- are becoming more pronounced: the thought of raw salad greens makes me ill. I can prepare them for JB's lunch without issue, but the thought of eating them...uugh. It's like eating grass clippings.
This morning I ate cottage cheese with canned peaches and thought it was the best food ever; so good, I brought more for lunch. When I'm in the throes of satisfying a craving, I truly think I could eat that one food for the rest of my life.
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My sense of smell is more pronounced -- the other evening with JB, I could smell a hookah as we walked down Railroad, and then tacos as we walked by the house at the corner of Bean. Cleaning up after Chloe never troubled me before, but now I am overwhelmed. On her walks, I've taken to curbing her instead of bagging up her poo, and I can still smell it a block away.
August 9, 2006
Cottage cheese really is the best food ever! I eat it with frozen fruit and it's very satisfying and comforting. My diet consists of f'eggs with spinach in the morning, and milk with ovaltine; small snacks of dried apricots and cashews in the morning; cottage cheese with frozen fruit for lunch; a little soup for an afternoon snack and an apple; lean meat with veggies for dinner.
Zucchini, potatoes, carrots, and cooked spinach are about all the veggies I can manage -- the idea of a salad still leaves me cold.
It sounds like a lot of food but the portions are small: 1/2cup of cottage cheese, a cup of soup, a small handful of nuts. Eating this way keeps me from feeling bloated, and I seem to have more energy.
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My car is not starting, despite installing a new battery, so I'm thinking of selling it immediately, although my new car isn't due until the end of the month. I can ride my bicycle to work, and rent a car on the few days I need to do groceries or go to an appointment. I'm actually looking forward to riding my bike! I've been so sedentary and bloated for weeks -- I'm sure the two encouraged each other -- that I know I'm overdue for some activity.
The most difficult part is to convince myself to persevere, and not be sedentary: one voice says, "Get up and do stuff," the other says, "Nooooo, let's stay in b-e-e-e-e-e-ed!"
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Sometimes I doubt that I'm pregnant -- I want to go purchase another EPT to make sure...
August 11, 2006 I have finally had some exercise! I have walked to work the past few days and it's made a big difference in my energy level. Although, it's still hard to fight off the urge for a nap at the office in the afternoon...
I've started eating an egg white omelet for breakfast, and cottage cheese with frozen fruit for lunch Ñ I don't feel so bloated, although I do feel that I'm beginning to show. Could just be me, though.
Frozen fruit is fantastic; I love the mouth feel and it seems sweeter than regular fruit. I can buy frozen mangoes in a bag from Food City and they're marvelous and silky with frozen blueberries on my cottage cheese. Truly, I do feel I could eat cottage cheese exclusively for the rest of my life. Scooter's gonna love dairy...
August 15, 2006 I had my first appointment at the Women's Birth Center today. Scooter has a heartbeat!
My uterus is the appropriate size, I have good tummy muscles, but my blood pressure is a little high. We'll have to work on that. Yoga.
The Birth Center is a very well run, cozy facility with half a dozen midwives on staff. I could have an IV- and monitor-free birth there if I want (a water birth, too), or give birth at the Tucson Medical Center across the road.
I met with Tara, who's from Humboldt County and about my age. She said that the care at the Center is considerably different than at a medical doctor's office. For example, none of the tests that MDs consider standard -- amniocentesis -- are required, or even necessary.
The chances of losing a baby due to complications from amnio are as great as the chance of having a Down syndrome kiddo (not the end of the world). I'll pass on the amnio. No big needle in my tummy!
She recommended a less invasive procedure called nuchal translucency, which is an ultrasound procedure that needs to be done between 11 and 12 weeks (from first day of last period). I'm scheduled for September 15.
Additionally, while they keep in mind the age of the mother, the mom's overall health is the determining factor in the risk level of the pregnancy. Tara basically said that the advanced maternal age concern is an overreaction by the medical establishment. Screw the establishment.
Initially I thought I wanted to have a c-section: please haul that kiddo out of me; I like my vagina the way it is. But, now I'm not so sure I want to be laid up for six weeks after the caesarean, and it's possible JB couldn't come in the OR with me, or I'd be knocked out completely. Sounds way too clinical. At the Birth Center, I could listen to Rilo Kiley and drink Jamba juices and wear whatever I want and get a massage with scented oils and hire belly dancers to come coach me through it all.
Maybe not the last part.
August 25, 2006 Is it okay to eat 10 rolaids a day?
August 28, 2006 If I eat spicy salsa in the morning, I don't get heartburn -- I think I'm getting heartburn because I'm eating too bland food...
August 30, 2006 Once again, I cannot wait for my next appointment to verify that Scooter's really in there.
Aside from still being sleepy (although not as utterly exhausted as I was) and suffering occasional -- major! -- bloat*, I don't feel pregnant. My pregnancy is going so well, I could do this twice.
Maybe.
Ask me again in March...
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I still have aversions to green vegetables, but root veggies I adore...and I found a pasteurized triple cream brie from France that is luscious. JB suggested that since I'm going gangbusters with the vitamins, my body may not need the green veggies but instead is craving protein and carbs -- the things I don't get from my Natalcare and Ovaltine and multivitamin.
The conflicting information I've found on the safety of sushi and soft cheeses is frustrating; I'm so tempted to go out for sushi...mmmm, want sushi....mmmm, no want listeria...
However, I'm thinking I'm ok with a little pasteurized brie. It's just so tasty on toasted whole grain bread with an over easy eggie weg on top...the glow of my happiness would surely annihilate any cooties introduced in the aging process. French pregnant ladies still eat yummy cheese, no?
*On Saturday we went bumming around junque shoppes and stopped in at Oregano's for pizza and beer (well, I had a Dr. Pepper...oh my, I do love phosphoric acid). I was famished and ate (in addition to some calamari) 4 slices of pizza. The pizza slices are cut square, and it was a thin crust -- but still, a lot of food.
When we got home, we started moaning, "Ich bien plotzen der karbo krieg!" ["I am dead from carbohydrates!" sort of...], flopped on the bed, and napped for an hour or so.
I woke up with the distended-est tummy I've ever had -- I looked 5 months pregnant. We went to see taiko drummers that evening, and I wanted to jump on stage and offer my belly up for a good thumpa-thumpin'.
August 31, 2006 I made a giant batch of basmati rice and curried garbanzos last night. So good.
I used to make curried garbanzos as an after school snack -- I'd eat a bowl with a giant pot of milky tea while watching General Hospital. Settle down kiddo, Mama's soap is on!
I'm sure GH is nowhere near as kooky as it used to be: they had the guy from outer space and the espionage plots with the top secret Prometheus disc hidden in plain sight on the ceiling fan blades...I doubt I'll do the soaps if it's run-of-the-mill clandestine trysts and backstabbing.
I can see myself riding over to the cafe to have some tea and cookies and draw in my sketchbook. JB wants to make sure I have a nanny to come help with Scooter, so that I can have me time and adult conversations. Lack of adult interaction isn't a huge worry for me right now, since I happily go through life with minimal interacting anyway. But it is important that I have time to do my art.
There are only a few things about impending motherhood I dread: petty and boring PTA meetings (interacting), and my poor kid being forced to sell entertainment coupon books as a fundraiser. I hope a Montessori school won't make Scooter do that.
September 6, 2006
I had my nuchal transparency at TMC yesterday, and goodness gracious there's a little person swimming in my tummy!
Scooter is a squirmer and has a huge head. The little kiddo is 6.4 cm long -- the same length as one of my silly pencil toppers... I could see Scooter's face, all four limbs, the beating heart, the spine, the little bum, and the brain as the kiddo wriggled, stretched, and rolled around in there. It was a fuzzy black and white image, but nonetheless surprisingly detailed.
The doctor and her assistant were talking about measurements and incomprehensible technical stuff during the ultrasound -- this was surely old hat for them -- but I was completely transfixed by the image on the monitor: there is a little person in my tummy. I was trying to control my giggles so hard it was making me cry -- every time I giggled, the image on the screen bounced...I just wanted to be able to stand up, have a giggle fit, shake the sillies out, and yell, THERE'S A LITTLE PERSON IN MY TUMM-Y-Y-Y-Y-Y-Y-Y-Y-Y!
So, it seems "real" now -- I don't feel the need to do another EPT.
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Also, I was the oldest pregnant lady in the waiting room. I'm sure some of the chicas in there thought I was there with my pregnant daughter.
When I met with the genetic counselor, the first thing she said to me was, "You know you were sent here because you're old."
By Tucson standards, I am an old mama. Also over educated. And married.
After I gave the gene doctor the history of my nonexistent bad habits, she said, "Well, you're boring."
"Yeah, sorry," I said. "I was never a crack whore."
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We went to Mexico for an extra long weekend and I slept as much as I wanted, and did nothing but watch satellite tv and play with Chloe on the beach -- I feel so much better, and I have an appetite for veggies again after eating nothing but roasted chicken, tortillas, and shrimp for several days.
I even find myself compelled to go to the gym at lunch...
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Hah! I went to the gym at lunch! And I made an appointment to meet with a trainer to plan a pregnancy fitness program.
September 9, 2006
I ate salad today and did not gag or die of disgust.
September 11, 2006
I got Scooter two Ugly Dolls -- a Babo and a Tray.
September 12, 2006
I gave the leftover salad to the dog. Gross. What was I thinking: salad???
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I heard Scooter's heartbeat at the Birth Clinic today. It makes me so happy. I envy the ladies I see with beautiful big tummies -- reassurance that there's a little person in there -- so it's very fulfilling to hear the heartbeat. It was very strong and fast -- a good sign, the midwife said. All my parts are in order, and my cervix, while tipped backward, is "beautiful." I don't hear that everyday.
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Fwipfwipfwipfwipfwip!
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I'm set for my next ultrasound between October 10 and 24 -- we will know then if Scooter is a Howard or a Louise. I start my prenatal, or "centering," class on October 16. I hope JB can come to both...
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My thyroid hormone serum level is at 10 -- not good. I'll need to have my levoxyl dosage increased.
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I got my first freebie grab-bag full of teeny tiny diapers, a Gerber "nuk" (what, no "nam"?) and burpless bottle, and the latest technological breakthrough in breast pads -- woo!
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I ate some feta with my hummus plate today. Whoa! Unpasteurized cheese! If Scooter comes out two headed or green, we know the reason.
September 13, 2006
I tested younger than my actual age on the nuchal transparency and bloodwork -- in line with midwife Tara's assertion that maternal age is secondary to overall health. Yay! So, there's little to no risk of Scooter being a short bus kid.
I do a spina bifida test in a few weeks, but since I am Vitamin Woman (NatalCare Plus, Costco Multi, and Ovaltine in my mililko) I think there is little to no risk of that, either.
Toot, toot!
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I hope it's not just hormonal, but I'm really digging being pregnant. Aside from the tiredness and indigestion, it's not been that rough and I am very much looking forward to meeting Scooter and raspberrying its little tummy.
I am sure that knowing I don't have to work a job and try to look after the kiddo properly at the same time is part of my happiness. Raising a little person is a job in itself. I used to dread having a kid because I figured I would have to work outside of the house too and I'd be a stress monster. But instead I can be at home, and take Scooter on little adventures -- I can't wait to take the kiddo to the crazy mask and folk art rooms at the art museum or head out to my trailer in the Tortolitas. We can do paper mache and have costume day -- man, I am looking forward to this in a big way...
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Out my window, I just saw a cute pregnant girl cross the street -- I want a tummy! Oh, so cute...
Just like when I decided to buy the Scion xbox, I started seeing them all over the place, now that I'm pregnant, there are pregnant ladies everywhere.
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I am going to buy jellyicecream.com and upload fun pictures of frogs and robots and daisies. That way Scooter can learn to manage a computer in a fun way -- click on the frog and it turns into a robot, click on a daisy and it turns into a butterfly. And then when the kiddo is older they can start uploading their own stuff to the site.
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I am going to take up the flute again so I can play songs for the kiddo.
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I bought jellyicecream.com!
Of course, I haven't done anything with it yet...
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