28 Weeks

Hello third trimester!  I am finally, legitimately, here.  Damn, pregnancy lasts a long ass time.  If Gizmo is four days late or more (which I suspect he may be) then I will have been pregnant in all four seasons consecutively.

And the trimesters don't make any sense!  I was like "yay I'm pregnant" and from that moment I only had about eight weeks before I was telling people I was pregnant, even if I didn't really consider myself in the second trimester until week 14.  But the wait between second trimester and third trimester is crazy.  Fourteen weeks compared to eight to ten.  Now, I only have twelve to go!

We had a nice long weekend in Vermont from Thursday til Monday, for a winter music festival put on by our favorite band.  For the first time all pregnancy I felt good enough to stand up for an entire two hour show.  I was right up front so the guitarist even offered me a chair but I soldiered on.  At the end of the show, we got our own shout out from the band because it was H's 75's show, my 56th and Gizmo's 19th.  Yes, our fetus has been to 19 shows in just 23 weeks of gestation.  He's much cooler than most people.  Sadly, it will be his last on the inside.  I'm not sure when we'll be able to go to a show again since he'll be so young during the summer tour and I don't know the rules about crowds and vaccinations.  Hopefully we'll still go to a couple of local free concerts.

We stayed in a nice little bed and breakfast and met up with some friends.  And we met with a local photographer to have a maternity photo shoot!  I'm a few weeks shy of your standard maternity shoot but I wanted to have some winter pictures taken with snow in the background since we already have nice springtime pics from our engagement session and summer pictures from our wedding.  So far I've only seen one of the pictures but I LOVE it and can't wait to see more.

How Far Along: 28 weeks.
Size of baby: Baby is the size of an eggplant.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: I'm a medical marvel.  I feel really fat but I am down a pound this week.  Perhaps my scale is broken?  One above pre-IVF weight.  More on this below.
Workouts: Lots of walking around on our long weekend in Vermont.
Maternity Clothes: I have discovered maternity leggings and I love them!  I also said leggings were not pants and mocked those who wore them, but I regret my wicked ways.  Leggings are the new pants.
Gender: It's a boy!
Movement: A few times a day he is pretty active but still not enough for the "kick counts" I've read about.

Sleep: Awful, reflux sucks so hard.
What I miss: Not having reflux at night.

Cravings: None.

Symptoms: Reflux!  I am off to get some Prilosec or something because the Zantac 75 is not cutting it.

Anxiety Level: Better.  I actually have a lot of thoughts on this to share but too lengthy to do in this post.

Best Moment this week: Chilling in Vermont!

Reading: After a long hiatus I am back to reading Bringing Up Bebe.

Dad is: Waiting to hear back from a second job interview.  He's not too jazzed about it but maybe the details will sway him.

 

Somehow I forgot to share this in the last update but we had an ultrasound at 26 weeks, 1 day to check out Gizmo's heart.  I have some heart problems in my family medical history that aren't serious but my OB wanted to err on the side of caution.  All is well thankfully and Gizmo is definitely a boy!  I, however, vomited on the table because laying on my back for twenty minutes is no bueno.

Ok, so I need to talk about the weight thing.  I'm feeling sort of guilty about not gaining anything and hearing everyone say how great and healthy I look.  In a way, I'm happy to hear people think I look good.  Who wouldn't be? But, I'm still easily twenty five pounds overweight and haven't received a compliment on my body in who knows how long, so hearing them often when I've done exactly nothing to deserve it (and I'm still overweight) weirds me out.  Today a male coworker said "you're doing a great job carrying."  Like it's a job?  Gah.  This is a first world problem, I realize.  But what should I say to that?  "I'm glad the redistribution of my excess weight has played out in a measure that is pleasurable to you?"  Stop talking about my body, freaks!  I don't even know you!

At the same time, I hope I look hot in the rest of my maternity pics.  Because, really, pregnancy is long and sometimes hard so I'll take whatever happiness I can get.  

 

Pictured (top left) is the same dress I wore at twenty two weeks, sixteen weeks, ten weeks, and four weeks.  I didn't set out to wear the same dress every six weeks but once I realized it had happened last time I figured I would keep it up.  I wonder if this dress will still fit at 34 weeks?

Like I said, more on this later, but I am just really happy to be feeling good and not anxious even as I get closer to the end.  It gives me hope that maybe the whole newborn stage won't be as scary as I fear.  My birth month board is full of posts like "been awake for an hour and haven't felt the baby kick, should I call the doctor or just go to the Emergency Room?" and I'm like "really?  Just chill, Mama."  Hopefully I can take some of my own advice in the weeks to come.

27 Weeks

I am 27 weeks!  According to some sites, I'm in the third trimester!  I still don't believe it.  I think I will stick with 28 weeks, which is when the Mayo Clinic (and other sources) say the third trimester starts.

I'm wearing the same dress in this picture as I wore in my 21 week picture.  Gosh, I barely look pregnant then.  Thirteen more weeks, really?  Really?  My tights no longer fit.  I bought two pairs of maternity tights but can't find either of them.  I have no idea what to wear to work tomorrow because both my single pair of maternity pants (which I hate) and my lone pair of black pants that fit are in the wash.  Is 27 weeks too early to say fuck it and come in wearing jeans?

In other semi-related news, I am SO OVER my job.  Some total crap has been going down lately and I've decided it's not someplace I want to be long term.  I've sent out a few resumes (six months pregnant mind you) and have made it my resolve not to return there after Gizmo is born.  Wish me luck.  I'm pretty sure I will end up taking that long maternity leave I posted about, even though I recently was thinking of only taking around 12 weeks.

How Far Along: 27 weeks.
Size of baby: Baby is the size of a head of rutabaga?  These things are annoying.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Up another two pounds this week so I'm two above pre-IVF weight.  I feel heavier though so I think those pounds are staying put.
Workouts: Just multiple trips to the bathroom.
Maternity Clothes: Pretty much all the time when I go out in public.  At home I can still wear tanks and yoga pants.
Gender: It's a boy!
Movement: OMG I felt my first foot last night.  H felt it too.  Gizmo was trying to break out!

Sleep: Fine.
What I miss: Not having reflux at night.

Cravings: None.

Symptoms: Reflux!

Anxiety Level: It's just really bad at night when my reflux prevents me from sleeping.  Racing thoughts.  I am now taking two doses of Zantac 75.

Best Moment this week: Feeling Gizmo's foot!

Reading: I finally finished A Discovery of Witches.  It actually got much better at the end.  I hate the romance parts but the Scooby Doo gang parts and the witchery stuff is cool. Now I'm onto some library books, including Instinctive Parenting: Trusting Ourselves to Raise Good Kids.

Dad is: Busy busy.

Our older cat loves the Best Chair.  Now that he got over the initial shock that it moves when he jumps onto it, he spends several hours a day sleeping in it.  I don't know how he's going to react once he realizes I am going to need the chair for when the baby comes.

Other than sticking the furniture in the office we haven't done much to set up Gizmo's space.  Still need to figure out how to arrange everything, touch up the paint and hang some art.  I still like to sit in the chair and open and close the drawers where our clothing stash is now kept.

This past weekend I braved the St. Patrick's Day parade.  It was fun, even if I spent half of the afternoon waiting in line to pee at various bars. A few people insisted I skip them in line one time, which was nice, but having been drinking booze and needing to pee, I can safely say that being pregnant and having to go isn't as bad.  Besides, playing the pregnancy card seems lame at six months when I voluntarily went to the parade.

The second week of birth class was good.  I still haven't booked our prospective doula because she had a death in her family but will hopefully shore that up soon.

Coming up this week is a long weekend out of town with friends and some maternity photos!

26 Weeks

I'm 26 weeks and one day today, because yesterday was too much of a hot mess to attempt checking in.  I took DH to the Emergency Room for what turns out is exercise-induced asthma.  It was a scary night with him wheezing and unable to breathe but we thought we'd make it to the morning and go to the Urgent Care.  By 7 a.m. when I woke up (and DH hadn't been to sleep at all) all bets were off and the poor guy could barely walk to the lobby of our building.

I will say this: the E.R. visit was amazing!  They got us into a private room within ten minutes of checking in.  The nurse was lovely and brought me juice and cookies.  Between being seen by a number of people (it's a teaching hospital), chest x-rays and three breathing treatments we were sent on our way in three short hours.  It isn't the hospital I'll be delivering at (I chose the crunchy women's hospital) but it will be the closest in case we ever have to bring Gizmo in for an emergency so I feel oddly relieved we had such a good experience.  They even have free valet!

Anyway, DH is much better.  The poor guy slept from 3 p.m. yesterday afternoon until 8 a.m. this morning.  Today he's actually going back to his personal trainer so I hope he brings his inhaler and takes it easy.  Then after our labor class he has to drive out to Boston.  No rest for the weary.  At least he's not pregnant!

How Far Along: 26 weeks (picture taken at 26 weeks, one day).
Size of baby: Baby is the size of a head of lettuce.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Plus two this week so I'm back at exactly pre-IVF weight.
Workouts: A little stretching and yoga in my labor class.

Maternity Clothes: Pretty much all the time when I go out in public.  At home I can still wear tanks and yoga pants.
Gender: It's a boy!
Movement: Increasing by the day.  He has about three really active times, usually meals or bedtime.

Sleep: Fine.
What I miss: Not having reflux at night.

Cravings: Peanut butter and milk.

Symptoms: Reflux.

Anxiety Level: Pretty good this week.

Best Moment this week: Getting our furniture.

Reading: I picked up A Discovery of Witches again because I am almost done and my coworker mentioned she loved it.  It's just so annoying how all these women in vampire novels have low self esteem.  Sigh.

Dad is: Recovering and busy.

We got our furniture!  I'm very happy about it and can post pictures soon.  The Best Chair is SO comfortable.

I went to my first Active Birth class last week and learned a lot.  I'm looking forward to my second one tonight (and being there with DH who knows very little about such topics). 

Please excuse the gross picture.  Despite blow drying my hair and putting on makeup I left the house tonight not realizing it was pouring rain so I've looked like a drowned rat all day.  I also tried to put a dress on this morning and felt so fat and gross that I took it off and threw on this rocking ensemble.  I'll try to look prettier tomorrow.

Work sucks bad.  People are so needy.  I'm over it.

25 Weeks

DH  went out of town today so I had to take a selfie in the work bathroom but someone had just walked in so it is a little rushed.  My bump looks smaller than last week but it really depends on what I'm wearing.  I don't have many "can you believe they said that?" stories so far in this pregnancy but today the woman who works the register in my work cafeteria (who I see twice a day five times a week) asked me how far along I was and I said "six months" to which she said "oh, really?"  I should note that she's only ever mentioned my pregnancy in the past two weeks, so maybe she thought I was just barely pregnant.  I think I look pretty big.

We finally cleared out the office!  And by we, I mean DH, though I did help carry some of the stuff down to our storage unit.  I wanted to also hang up the decals we bought before the furniture gets here this coming Friday but DH wants to patch up and repaint some spots in the wall.  He was all "we have SO much time."  Ha ha ha, no we don't. Seriously every weekend in April and May are now booked with showers or birth/baby classes and we're going away for four days in two weeks and, oh yeah, I'm not getting any less pregnant but, alas, progress is progress.  I'm excited to sit in my chair again.

I have the first of my seven week Active Birth class starting tomorrow, very exciting!  I'm also going to meet with a doula and hear all about her services.

How Far Along: 25 weeks.
Size of baby: Baby is the size of a cauliflower, which, less face it, he's never experienced these past 25 weeks.
Total Weight Gain/Loss: Despite no amount of appetite restraint I seem to have misplaced a pound or two this week.  Currently two below pre-IVF weight.  Don't ask me how.  I give up.
Workouts: Cleaning like he's coming any minute now.
Maternity Clothes: Pretty much all the time when I go out in public.  At home I can still wear tanks and yoga pants.
Gender: It's a boy!
Movement: Feeling him a lot more at night now.  Still quiet during the day but at my appointment on Friday the doctor said he was very active when she checked with the doppler.  I guess I can't feel it.
Sleep: Harder to fall asleep.  Acid reflux plus restlessness.  Then usually pee time circa 3 a.m. then 6 a.m.
What I miss: Nada.
Cravings: None.

Symptoms: Occasional reflux.

Anxiety Level: Not bad but spikes at night.

Best Moment this week: Met two nice women from my birth month board for dinner on Friday.

Reading: Just finished Beautiful Creatures.  Pretty disappointing finish.  Now will proceed to read some parenting books or maybe breastfeeding.

Dad is: Didn't get the job he was optimistic about.  Waiting for another interview later this week at a different place.  Fingers crossed.

For a brief moment in time I was totally going to move to New York City and quit my job to sit in a cafe with Gizmo all day long writing the next great children's story like an American J.K. Rowling but those plans fell through so now it's back to Plan A (B? C?).  I tried to get the wheels in motion for maternity leave paperwork but it is such a joke at my job.  The form just says "date leaving" and "date returning" with room for three signatures.  So I have to actually speak to my boss without knowing  the actual leave policy.  HR just said I get 30 days paid leave and then can take whatever accrued time I have saved. No other details.  I really need more details.  Can I take "Sick Leave" when I'm no longer "sick?"  Guess I'll find out in a few weeks when I actually sit down with my boss.  My coworker thought I was insane for trying to figure this out at 25 weeks and said I have plenty of time.  Why does everyone keep saying that?  Gah!

My Gobbi mobile arrived and it's really nice.  Seeing how much smaller the balls are compared to the one I had tried to DIY makes me think I should have just bought smaller balls, but I still think it saved me a solid five hours to buy it so I consider it money well spent.

I'm feeling really good lately.  I think pregnancy agrees with me.  Or maybe just prolonged sobriety.  Or not dealing with infertility.  I'm excited for the next chapter!

24 Weeks

I'm feeling very grateful today about how easy my pregnancy has gone thus far.  I can't even begin to express how nervous I was for years about how I'd handle my anxiety while pregnant, only to find that it's been (knocks on biggest piece of wood ever) pretty much a non-issue.

An old therapist of mine told me that half of women with anxiety disorders before pregnancy experienced reduced anxiety in pregnancy.  Later when I cited this statistic to my psychiatrist she disputed its credibility.  I remember telling her I would find the study and send her a copy, but I don't remember if I actually found the study.  Pregnancy brain!

Not that I can really claim pregnancy has been some sort of marvelous anxiety cure all because I've also had a lot of other support mechanisms in place - namely Zoloft, weekly therapy and monthly psychiatry sessions.  Still, I'm very relieved I've maintained my sanity for the past 24 weeks.  Sadly, it doesn't make me more confident about the potential anxiety overload of new motherhood but more on that later.

How Far Along: 24 weeks.
Size of baby: Baby is the size of a cantaloupe according to The Bump but it also says 12.7 to 20.8 ounces, which, aside from being a HUGE range, is probably way smaller than my actual fetus.  Gizmo was measuring over a pound four weeks ago so I'm thinking he's rocking almost two pounds by now.  But I suck at math so that could be wrong.  
Total Weight Gain/Loss: Back down a pound so I'm just up one from pre-IVF weight.  I have no earthly idea how that is.  I ate two lunches today.
Workouts: Nada.
Maternity Clothes: Pretty much all the time when I go out in public.  At home I can still wear tanks and yoga pants.
Gender: It's a boy!
Movement: A few pokes a day.  Lazy baby.
Sleep: Fine.
What I miss: Nada.

Cravings: None.

Symptoms: Occasional reflux.

Anxiety Level: Not bad but spikes at night.

Best Moment this week: My first prenatal massage on Tuesday.

Reading: About halfway through Beautiful Creatures.

Dad is: Waiting to hear back from a job he had a great interview with on Friday.

Prenatal massage was heavenly.  I scheduled another one for 27 weeks and if all goes well I'll see her a little more frequently in the third trimester.  Wow, the third trimester is something that is coming up soon.  I can hardly believe it.

What it should look like

A lot of people make a big deal over hitting 24 weeks because it is considered by many hospitals the "viability point," or the earliest point in which a premature infant can survive.  Since I have a friend and neighbor lose her 24 weeker in December, after months of NICU time, I am more stoic about this milestone.  I think I'll breathe sightly easier at 29 weeks but I also just don't want to contemplate meeting Gizmo before June.

After the relative success of my crafting project on Saturday, I decided to get started my next project, namely a Gobbi mobile, one in the sequence of the Montessori mobile series.  Some bloggers I found said it was a task that required "the patience of a Buddhist monk" and "if you can afford to buy it instead of making it, do that instead" but I wasn't discouraged.  I went to the store and bought Styrofoam balls and five varying shades of green thread.  I was going to be the proud owner of a handmade mobile currently being sold on etsy for $50 for the low price of $5!

I started threading the first ball and thought "this is easy."

When I gave up

About a half hour into the project, DH suggested I just buy the mobile since I was only about 1/10 of the way through one ball. "No," I protested, "every time I look at the mobile I will be reminded of my resourcefulness and frugality."

An hour into it, I was having my own doubts but told myself I could brag how "homemade" my mobile would be and maybe I would hang it permanently in his room.

Two hours into it, I decided no son of mine would want his mother spending fifty hours of her time wrapping thread around a Styrofoam ball and I ordered one online.  My son will be a capitalist.

DIY Montessori Wooden Toy Tripod

I have been reading about practicing Montessori principles from birth to foster a child's development since way before there was an actual child on the way. I've drooled over Montessori rooms like the one developed by Meg at Sew Liberated designed for her son Finn.  I knew, due to space constraints and a desire to keep Gizmo sleeping in our room for the first four months of life, that we wouldn't be setting up a room with four separate areas for sleeping, changing, feeding and being active right at birth. Still, I plan to practice many Montessori and Montessori-inspired ways of nurturing Gizmo's development.

One of the things I am most excited about is the various mobiles and toys that Montessori educators recommend to hang over a baby's face while they are lying independently on the floor. A lot of bloggers I've seen have suspended a line of rope from the ceiling or a wall bracket for this purpose. That's probably the easiest option, but it's one that assumes your "activity area" is always in the same place.  Or that you don't mind hanging a whole bunch of crap on your walls, I don't know.  I decided I needed something more flexible.

A hanging toy tripod, like the one being sold by the Michael Olaf Company, seemed ideal for the transient nature of our infant-in-an-apartment plans.  The price tag freaked me out though.  I mean, I know it's hand-crafted and all, but $95 for a tripod plus shipping was too rich for my blood.  Side note: besides being super expensive, the Michael Olaf Company has a web site that seems straight out of AOL in the mid 1990's so if you want to see additional pictures of the tripod, check out this link.

I kept googling to see if I could find a cheaper alternative out there, and lots of bloggers kept saying it was so easy to DIY.  Let me tell you - I am not a skilled DIYer at all.  My tragic flaw is that I love looking at DIY stuff but any attempt I've ever made to take on a project has ended up a ridiculous failure.  So when I tell you that this project is easy, rest assured it is a "my cat can probably do this" level of easy. And it was cheap too.  Like $10 cheap.

I started out following the tutorial over at At Home With Montessori but decided not to try to sew the mat underneath it because, woah, I do not sew.  Yet, even after watching the youtube video several times in slow motion and googling how to tie a clove hitch and following a diagram there, my pole lashing was just not working.  I think the rope was too thin.  I was on my way out the door to get new rope but I decided to improvise a bit and found a rubber hair tie worked even better.  Now, my tripod is complete and easy to collapse and store.

Here is my simplified step-by-step tutorial:

1.  Go to Home Depot.  I remember the first time I stepped into Home Depot and was frankly really surprised it didn't look like a mall full of crafting supplies.  I wanted to buy plywood and batting materials to make a DIY headboard like I had seen a thousand times on TLC.  I was so overwhelmed and lost I left without buying anything and I still don't have a headboard.  But I digress.

2. Look up.  The sign will say "Building Materials."  Walk to the back past all the really big wooden stuff you don't need.  Next to the crown molding materials you will see a whole bunch of wooden rods piled in boxes.  These are called dowels.  You need three of them.  They should be 3/4" in diameter and 48" long.  For reference, I bought these for $2.97 each. 

3. Look up.  Walk to "Tools and Hardware" and then find where they are selling "Cabinet and Furniture Hardware." Try not to get distracted by fancy dresser pull knobs you don't need.  Find these rubber "leg tips" I bought for $1.99.  Buy one set of 3/4" leg tips. I bought two sets in case I want to put some on the top of the poles too but I can't decide if I'm going to or not.

4. Go home.  Attach rubber tips to the end of the dowels.  Group the tops of the dowels together and fasten them with a rubber band.  Voila!

When I first announced my plans to make this tripod, my husband expressed how much the cats would like it.  One of our cats' favorite toys is an old bangle bracelet of mine attached to a shoelace.  It did not disappoint.  I tied a metal ring to a piece of string and hung it from the tripod and the boys immediately began playing with it. I'm going to swap this out with a wooden ring, mobiles, and other toys when Gizmo is here.

I'm not sure why it looks so narrow in this picture I uploaded but the imaginary circle created by the tripod is exactly 3 feet in diameter.  I may still fasten a round mat to the bottom or simply place it over a rug.  I haven't decided yet.  It is surprisingly sturdy.  I'll be sure to upload more pictures when it's in use.

23 Weeks

T minus twenty days until our furniture is delivered and we've made a lot of improvement on clearing out the office.  As you can see, we still have to disassemble the bookcase and move all the boxes either to our storage cage in the basement or a rented storage place.  And by "we," I mean DH, but he hurt his back from lifting boxes so he's out of commission for a few days.

We also got our carriage and I'm so excited about it! It's the Uppababy Vista that we fell in love with while testing out different models in a store.  Not wanting to pay full price - as of today it's retailing for $729 on Amazon - I have been stalking craigslist for weeks to find a deal. I finally found a 2012 model, barely used, selling near my parent's house.  We offered $400, my folks picked it up, and we are now its proud owners.  I haven't even seen it in person yet but my parents are very impressed with it.  The bassinet is hopefully where Gizmo will be sleeping for the first few months of his life.

I'm happy things are finally coming along.  I'm glad we still have lots of time left because it seems like we have a million more things to do.


How Far Along: 23 weeks.
Size of baby: Baby is the size of a grapefruit. 
Total Weight Gain/Loss: Fluctuating weight this week.  As of today I'm two pounds above pre-IVF weight which is fine, except it was two pounds less yesterday.  Oh well.
Workouts: Does cleaning count?
Maternity Clothes: I went out and bought two more Pea in the Pod shirts yesterday because they are so comfortable and nice material and, well, I can't find one of the ones I already had because I'm just all about losing things lately. I'm wearing the new pink one now. Expensive but worth it.
Gender: It's a boy!
Movement: I thought the movement would increase eventually but it's still pretty rare.  Weird.
Sleep: Just one pee break a night lately.

What I miss: Nada.

Cravings: I went out and got a bunch of Ramen noodles for lunches.

Symptoms: A bit of acid reflux at night. 

Anxiety Level: Much better.  Maybe a two this week.

Best Moment this week: Date night with DH.  We saw all the Oscar nominated short films.

Reading: Abandoned my nearly finished Discovery of Witches in favor of Beautiful Creatures because the latter was on sale for Kindle.

Dad is: Recovering from hurting his back cleaning out the office.

 

It was a good week.  I think switching to the vitamins with Iron has made a difference.  We both have today off of work, so I'm still enjoying a nice leisurely weekend.  I got a pedicure yesterday and tomorrow I have my very first prenatal massage. I'm looking forward to it.

 

DH is still on the job hunt and hopefully we'll have some news on that front soon.  We're hoping to time things so he can quit his current job right after annual bonuses come out in mid-March.