More Belly Pictures

Week 18! The first picture shows you my camoflauge, the second shows you what it would look like if I wore my bikini to school.

This morning I was blow-drying my hair upside down, and when I flipped over, me, the baby, and my hair all went flying backwards into the bed. Whoa! Talk about weight distribution! Then I felt the baby flip again - thud.

Then Dave and I went out for breakfast, and I realized that I didn't know where to put my napkin - across my belly, my lap, my breasts? Hmm. I choose the belly and held it in place with one hand, the bagel in the other. And then I dropped the bagel onto the belly, where it flipped cream cheese side down and landed on my black pants. It was awesome. Dave and I laughed and laughed.

Take Our Poll

In the spirit of an election year, we've added a new Polling feature to the blog that lets you vote on some VERY important matters. It's located on the left side bar, underneath our blog's description, and you don't have to sign in to vote (some readers do not comment on the blog because they don't like signing in, and we understand that). So vote away!

We'll update the polling question every two weeks, so keep checking back. But please, don't stuff the ballot. One vote per person per question.

Flying the Not-So-Friendly Skies

Dave and I were part of the jet-set for Thanksgiving, and before flying, we had a checklist of things to ensure a smooth pregnancy flight. We had a copy of my medical records, I drank a lot of water, I sat in an aisle seat to allow me to roam the aisles, we brought a bag of snacks, I chewed gum, I did seat exercises for my legs and torso... and still, it was probably the hardest thing I've done so far this pregnancy. The doctors warned us that it might be tough, and they weren't lying.

The strangest and in some ways hardest part of the flight was the ascent and descent - each time we went up or down, I got there first, and then the baby followed. It was like getting socked in the stomach over and over again. Apparently the baby isn't as strapped in as I thought - it's floating all over the place in there!

After each flying day, my stomach hurt on all sides, stabbing pains, for about 15 hours or so. And the second trimester is supposed to be the easiest time to fly during pregnancy! I am not looking forward to our upcoming flight to Colorado - after we get home, I'm staying on the ground until the baby is born.

The Stork Brings the Baby, Right?

Last night, Dave and I, along with our friend Katie, went down to Onondaga Lake Park for the holiday Lights on the Lake extravaganza. Last night was the walking tour - usually people drive the four mile light display, but on the opening night, the Park and Rec dept. opens the display to walkers for free... and all of Syracuse seems to show up.

Little did we know that alongside the Wizard of Oz display, the Victorian Village display, and the Cavemen display, was the Animal display - and who should be there, but the Stork! So we got our pictures taken with the one who will soon deliver the baby. Sorry, Dr. Brown, but you've been replaced by a 12 foot light display!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! Hope you enjoy your turkey, tofurkey, lobster, etc. with friends and family!

Goodbye, Martini; Hello, Faketini?

I was at the bookstore yesterday, and among the silly pregnancy books on the shelves (Choose Your Baby's Gender is one such ridiculous title), was one called, The Pregnant Girl's Guide to (non)Alcoholic Drinks, and it included a whole bunch of concoctions to fool you into thinking you were drinking an alcoholic beverage, when in reality you were drinking fruit punch and ginger ale in a spiffy glass. (* I have another beef with the book, specifically the title - I'm still a girl? At what point can I be a woman? If pregnancy doesn't bestow upon me womanhood, then what does? Puh-lease.)

The existence of such a book was puzzling; who needs a fake alcoholic drink book? I'm not sure why going out to the bars as a pregnant person and drinking a Coke is any different than being the designated driver and drinking a Coke, but apparently, some pregnant women crave alcohol because it's forbidden. Or because it's part of their lifestyle.

Today I was talking to my grandma on the phone, and she told me that when she was pregnant with Neil, she specifically asked her ob/gyn if she should stop drinking alcohol. He replied, "Of course you can drink alcohol. Just don't fall down." Then Grandma told me, very matter-of-factly, "And I never fell down."

A Snowy Morning

This morning we woke up to a dumping of beautiful lake-effect snow, which is soft, fluffy, and clumps to all the tree branches. It was beautiful. I woke up to go to the bathroom, and before I climbed back into the bed I opened our bedroom blinds for Dave to see. You'd have thought it was his birthday- his eyes widened like saucers.

Arlo was curled on his back at the foot of the bed, and Purna was standing on her back feet on our dresser, watching the snowflakes and trying to catch them through the window. Then as I snuggled back into bed, Dave said, "It's baby's first snow day!" At least the first snow day inside the womb. I love snow days like this, especially when I don't have to hurry anywhere. And I can't wait to share them with a little person. Snow = magic.

It's amazing how as the pregnancy progresses and the knowledge grows that soon enough we will add another member to this family, all the things I love about changing seasons and living in a Northern climate are emphasized and seem more celebratory. It's like when you move into a new house and invite important people over, you see everything through their eyes. I'm already seeing all the things I love about this time of year through the baby's eyes, and the baby isn't even here!


Today begins week 17, the last full week of the 4th month. People keep telling us the pregnancy will fly by, and they ain't kidding.

A Surprise in the Night

I had some strange dreams last night, mostly the anxiety kind (Did I ever change my last name with the student loan people? Did I remember to sign my promissory note this semester? When do I give my Americorps grant to financial aid? Etc., etc.) I also had a strange body night - I'm at the point where I should quit sleeping on my back (it cuts off oxygen and hurts your back), and sleeping on my belly ain't happening, so it's sleep on the left, flip all the way over, sleep on the right, flip all the way over, sleep on the left, all night long. I practically have to push off from Dave to get the momentum, but luckily he is a deep sleeper and doesn't seem to mind me using his thighs as my platform.

At one point, as I flipped over from my left to my right, I decided to stop on my back for *just a minute* to rest/sleep in the forbidden position, and suddenly I was awake and aware that my t-shirt was drenched on the left side of my chest. I moved my arms, and the bed covers were wet. I sat up and looked around, but of course it was dark, so I frantically felt around the bed, finding the edges where the liquid stopped. I don't want to sound like it was a huge amount of liquid, because it wasn't, but I was still wet and cold and unhappy because... my left breast was leaking breast milk. (To be more specific, it was probably leaking colostrum, which is the precursor to breast milk, but anyway...)

I pulled the wet areas of my shirt up to my nose and inhaled, and yep, that's what it smelled like. Actually, it smelled like this little girl Meghan I used to baby-sit. Kind of warm and sweet and it made me think of rainbows and kittens and fluffy clouds.

I don't know if some dream caused my leakage, or a hormone fluctuation, or Purna the cat crying from some corner of the house and awakening an unknown maternal instinct. I don't know if this is normal or very weird or kind of ho-hum, because I've never heard/read/received any information at all about this topic. It does seem rather taboo, and I even hesitated to write about it at first, thinking, "Who wants to read about my leaking left breast?" But then, for the sake of information and the possible comments this post might produce, I decided a post about my surprise in the night was appropriate. And if you're sqeamish about THIS topic, perhaps you should stop reading the blog until AFTER the baby is born, because it is my understanding that it only gets worse. Can you handle it?

Busted

My cold is entering Day 11, with no signs of relenting. This means I've been combating a cold without medication for 11 days, and my focus during classes is to keep my noisy nose and cough under control. Hot honey water provides the most protection for my throat, but it also goes through me pretty fast during a 75 minute class.

Last week I drank my honey water during class and suddenly had to go to the bathroom, so I quietly exited the lecture hall. 20 minutes later, I had to go again, so I quietly exited the lecture hall. And then 10 minutes later, I... yeah, you know what I had to do, so I got up and quietly exited the lecture hall. To which my professor interrupted his lecture to say, "Well, there's a lot traffic today, isn't there?"

Busted.

We Have Movement - and another picture!

Another view of the 14 week belly
Posted at week 16 (so there's a little bit of lag time between pictures...)

We have movement!!!! The little person inside is a gymnast. I stayed up from 2:30am to 5:00 am this morning, watching infomercials detailing how to become a SPAM business-owner, because baby did not like the jalapeño peppers I ate last night at dinner. This feeling is very new, so hopefully I'll get used to it soon and get a little more sleep. Besides, Purna the cat got angry at me because she had to share the couch AND the afghan at 2:30am, which is when she generally has dibs on the couch. She sat on my hip for 2 1/2 hours, staring at me with her ears back, telepathically urging me back to my own bed. I finally got the message and returned to bed, and baby went to sleep (or at least got down off the trapeze).

Drum Roll Please - It's a !*&$!%

So Dave and I found out the gender of our baby, kind of by accident. We were having a sonogram yesterday, and the technician asked us if we wanted to find out the gender, and I said yes, and then she told us... but we weren't ready! At least, I thought I was ready when I said yes, but in hindsight, I wasn't. As Dave just said to me, "It hasn't sunk in at all yet." This is true - after she told us the gender, I didn't feel anything. It was like she told me that the baby will want to be a postal carrier when it grows up (this was my dream as a 4 year old). I just didn't feel anything but, "Oh, ok. It's a *&%$#."

How does our reaction affect you? Well, since Dave and I weren't ready to know the gender of the baby, we've decided that you, our dear readers, aren't ready yet either. You'll just have to wait until we've processed this, and then we'll let you know. Maybe.

But the important parts of the sonogram revealed a little person who weighs 7 oz, who has a very active set of legs and arms, and whose heart has developed into four separate chambers which were visible on the monitor. There is nothing like seeing and hearing the heart - 152 bpm and steady. The baby is also laying low, in the "hammock of my pelvis," as the doctor said.

My dentist asked me what gender I wanted the baby to be. "Everyone says a healthy one," she said, "but people have secret hopes." And I made up some answer that wasn't really true to satisfy her. Because I don't really feel strongly one way or the other. Although, in all honesty, I should let you know that there is a little part of me hoping for a girl so that we can continue the women's college legacy, but Dave did remind me that we could just require a son to only date women's college graduates. (This is a joke, of course. We are not the kind of people who will require our son/daughter to only date a certain type of person. I did enjoy the story, though, from a Chinese-American friend who said that after he came out as gay to his parents, his mother said, "You still have to marry a Chinese man and give me Chinese grandchildren." Our parents' expectations of us are often indeterminate until push comes to shove.)

My First Topple

This morning I crouched down on the ground to clean up some indecipherable kitty matter (bad kitty!!!) and tipped right over when I tried to stand up. So THAT'S what they mean by "redistributed weight."

What the Pregnancy Bible, "What to Expect When You're Expecting," Didn't Tell Me About Pregnancy

Everyone seems to ask the same question at the doctor's office: have you bought the book, What to Expect When You're Expecting yet? Oh, don't you worry, we tell them. We are dedicated readers. However, we think the woman model on the front is a little... too Better Homes and Gardens. We'd rather have a model who could at least wear jeans like the rest of us.

But although What to Expect... is the tome of pregnancy, and a pretty excellent resource all-around, it didn't prepare me for the following strange physical reactions to the hormones (and baby) taking over my body...

1. Heavy, voluminous earwax. I can feel it drop into my ear, like a raisin. Yuck. We are going through Q-tips like new parents go through strangers' "helpful" advice.

2. Thick, dark veins showing up on my eyelids. I have to wear concealer everyday under my eyebrows because otherwise it appears that Dave hit me in not one, but both eyes. I have to protect my marriage with concealer!

3. The Tickle-Me Elmo belly. The skin is so tender around my lower belly that when Dave rubs it before we go to bed (for good luck!) I become Tickle-Me Elmo. I wriggle and giggle and can hardly believe how incredible it feels. I even have the same high-squeal that parents find so endearing about Tickle-Me Elmo. I have turned into an electronic stuffed animal!

4. The ever-present heartbeat. I can't fall asleep at night because I can feel my heartbeat beating against my shouldar blades, my ankles, my fingertips... everywhere. If I lay on the couch and cross my ankles, it's like I'm actually tapping them together, because my heartbeat is so strong. I feel like I have some mental disorder, unable to fall asleep at night b/c my heartbeat is keeping me awake!

A Sore Throat Makes Me a Crabby Lady

It's official - being ill while pregnant is a horrible combination. No NyQuil, no cough syrup, no nasal decongestant. Just me and the Riccola cough drops and a whole bunch of water. And a whole bunch of water plus a diminished bladder means a trip to the bathroom every 20 minutes.

The only way to make myself feel better is to substitute cold remedies with food - genius!!! I ate a bowl of ice cream today in lieu of cough syrup, and it did the trick. I had chili for lunch yesterday, and that worked like nasal decongestant. Maybe for dinner I should eat a large Thanksgiving turkey meal and that can work as my sleep aid?

Pregnacy + Middle Aged Men = Pick-Up Lines Galore

A phenomenon not mentioned in the Pregnancy Manuals: the Pregnant Sarah has received more pick-up lines from middle-aged men than the Not-Pregnant Sarah ever did. And this has occurred both when I wasn't showing and when I was. I must be emitting some kind of weird smell that attracts them like flies, or it's my glowy skin. Or maybe it's the new waddle that follows me around, or my ungraceful way of getting out of a chair.

Whatever it is, it is bugging me like allergies that won't go away. Strangest of all was that in the last two weeks, I actually received the same pick-up line TWICE from two different middle-aged men. Both times I was sitting at a table alone, and both times, the man walked by me slowly and said, "Pretty women are beautiful when they smile." Which of course is supposed to make me smile, but I don't want to smile when this happens. I want to flip them off.

But creepiest of all was the middle-aged man I met on the elevator in the Law School on Friday, who told me I had a very long, beautiful neck. This makes me want to wear scarves. Or turtlenecks.

Perhaps the pregnant Sarah is a safe person for middle-aged men to flatter. Maybe they think I feel unattractive as a result of being pregnant (it's amazing how many people comment about getting "fat" - as in, "Are you fat yet?" Pregnancy is not fat. Pregnancy is carrying a fetus. Although I must admit that I am now at that stage where maternity clothing makes me look cute and pregnant, and regular clothing makes me look like I gained some weight. But anyway...)

Whatever the reason for the flattery from the middle-aged men, it is unexpected. A sore back, learning about car seats, people touching your tummy - all expected. Being told I have a beautiful neck? Not expected. Not at all.

My View

My view of the tummy. I had to bend backwards a little bit, so it's a bit exaggerated. And that's a tie in front, not my belly-button popping through my shirt like some piece of rope.

14 weeks along

oh, here I am all smiley and tired after a long day at school. But look at my belly! That's 14 weeks, folks. Wow!

Our last Halloween without a little Yoda

Dave and I are big fans of Halloween, but being an adult without a child to share it with sometimes makes Halloween just an excuse to drink alcohol. And I like Halloween because of the reasons I loved it when I was 10- the time of year, the creative process, the pumpkin-carving, bobbing for apples, etc. I was the type of kid who planned my Halloween costumes in August, and I still take it pretty seriously, because I think it is a quintessential holiday representing America - specifically, I think that it is unbelievable that you can come up with a bizarre conglomeration of clothes (like the year I was a bag lady - not very sensitive) and walk around your neighborhood with a pillowcase, ring stranger's doors, and get FREE candy. Amazing. As my foreign-exchange student friend Anne-Sophie said after experiencing her first Halloween in the States, "America is beautiful."

Dave and I came home from work/school yesterday, carved pumpkins on the front stoop before the trick-or-treaters showed up, and proceeded to hand out gummi candy shaped like severed body parts for a couple of hours. And I felt so excited... because this is our last Halloween without a kid. And the very thought of experiencing this amazing holiday, one of my ultimate favorites, with a little person dressed in a white sheet is great. I can't wait to plan Halloween costumes in August, and carve pumpkins, and walk around the neighborhood greeting our neighbors and shouting Trick or Treat! I really can't wait.

And I am already, one year early, plotting my little one's Halloween costume for 2008. A baby Yoda - the little green character from Star Wars. Last night I read that we should start looking for cribs soon. But Yoda is much more exciting.

PS: That kitty pumpkin is my creation. Just so you know I didn't steal the picture from someone else's blog and pretend it was my own.