Two Weeks

I can't believe that two weeks have flown by so quickly! We are home and adjusting well after a rocky start and admission to NICU. My parents left this morning, I am getting some decent sleep at night (usually two 3-4 hour chunks) and Henry is growing like a weed. I'm still worried about breast feeding. Henry is not satisfied afterwards and we are doing more supplementing with formula (after managing to pull back last week). I am not sure if he is hitting a growth spurt, if my milk supply is not enough (and if not, why), or if it is some combination of the two. I've been letting him feed longer and doing more switching back to first side if he is still awake to let him *finish* that breast. I am also trying to pump if I don't think he ate enough. Tomorrow I will try to pump between feedings to get things going.

I have been feeling pretty good. My goal for the week is to take daily walks with River of at least one mile. Dailymile.com has been helping me track my *mileage*. Horner Park is my sanctuary. I don't care if it is cold, rainy, dark, or wet. Taking the time for a walk with the dog with no phone/music/talking has been invaluable. Running will have to wait till I heal up a little more. I also need to keep building my fitness by walking.


As of this morning, I am down 24lbs, so -1 from prepregnancy. I'd still like to lose another 15 to get back to my WeWa goal weight. The problem is that I am not hungry and know I am not eating enough. Is this why Henry is not satisfied after nursing? ugh. I am going to a breast feeding drop in clinic on Monday and hope to get some help there.

Friends came over tonight and brought us pizza and beer (for Allan). One is an amateur photographer and took lots of cute pictures of Henry. Allan and I looked like death, so not many of those will be posted.....

Scrooge!

Allan called me a Scrooge today. (or maybe a Grinch?) I have completely cleaned up Christmas. Normally, I would wait a little longer to take everything down, but the tree was dying it was so dry and the clutter was killing me.

Henry's trick for the day was finding his thumb for the first time. I tried to take a picture, but Allan did not get to me with the camera in time. Given that I was a champion thumb sucker, I am not surprised that Henry found his early.

Rough night last night, lots of fussing with a GIANT dirty diaper in the middle of the night. We have already seen another today. I think the new schedule will be a day of poop, followed by a day or two of no poop!:)

Henry says to the Bears - better luck next year. He only had this on for about an hour or two before peeing all over it. Maybe he also takes after me in not loving football?:)

Merry Christmas!

My parents arrived Thursday, just in the nick of time. While Allan and I have been doing well with Henry, I think we both pretty much crashed when they came. It has been so nice to have the extra pairs of hands to hold Henry. At this point, pretty much the only time I am gaunted to hold Henry is when I am nursing him. Both my Mom and Dad have been fabulous.

We had a fun Christmas Eve yesterday and ended up in "the LF" for dinner with Allan's family. There were about 18 of us and it was a wonderful dinner, with pheasant! *yum* I had my Dad take pictures of us in front of the tree, but the flash did not go off and they were blurry. I am going to try to get some from a cousin that was taking pictures last night. This one is ok, but Henry looks like he is in pain!

Alan and I tried to sneak out to an 11pm church service but Henry started fussing and we left after about 15 minutes. Good thing that it was only 2 blocks to get home! I told Allan that we got credit for going!:) So much to be thankful for this year, I wanted to say a prayer in church to thank God for all of my blessings. I would not have minded Henry fussing, but it was not the family service, so I thought we should leave.

Henry gave us another Christmas present and actually slept for FIVE hours last night (yes, I forgot to set an alarm to wake him up). Having a longer stretch of sleeping time is priceless. We had a fabulous breakfast (featuring the famous "sausage ring with scrambled eggs" and opened presents! I am clearly blessed and loved - I made out like a bandit with a beautiful new watch, new running tights and compression socks, a pickle Christmas tree ornament, Angelina's hot chocolate and foie gras from Paris, and gift cards to Fleet Feet, Paciugo, and Pinkberry.

Henry ended up buried in presents (what a well loved boy) and slept through the entire process. My parents were kind enough to watch Henry this afternoon and Allan and I snuck out for a "date afternoon" to see Mission Impossible - Ghost Protocol, which I loved. I could not believe though how many people brought VERY young children (around 6 years old) to a very violent movie. Not appropriate in my opinion (hello Judgey Judgerson). Henry drank two bottles while we were gone (I TRIED to feed him lots before we left) and he pooped for them. I guess he wanted to give them the full experience:)

We also worked today on getting out holiday cards and I started cleaning up Christmas decorations. Tired, I am now tired and happy. Merry Christmas!

One Week

Henry turned one week old yesterday. We are already seeing changes, he is more awake, more alert, is tracking better with his eyes and using his hands more. For the first time today, he actually got a finger in his mouth by himself! The other big change we are seeing is that his blue eyes are already turing brown:( They say that babies look like their fathers for biological reasons - Henry is no exception!

On my front, I am feeling better and better. I got on the scale yesterday and have lost 16 of the 23 lbs I gained during the pregnancy. Pregnancy clothes (pants) are already starting to fall off. One of my goals for tomorrow is to dig out some of my "fat" clothes for the transition. The bummer is that even having lost 16 lbs, I am still a good 20lbs from my WeWa goal weight. On one hand, I have not been that weight for years so don't know if it is realistic, on the other hand, I am actually motivated to work hard and get out running, so why not have a goal - to get back to goal?

I took a really nice walk with River today. I did not even care that the weather was miserable. It was so nice to be out and moving without pain. The Dr said no exercise other than walking for six weeks, which is fine. I just want to commit to taking the dog out for two 20-30 minute walks a day, especially while my parents are here and I can't even get near the baby anyway.....

Terrific Tuesday!

I got the best news ever today! The maid has room to come and clean every week (as opposed to every other week). I realize that I am spoiled, but I will give up A LOT to keep the maid. Somehow, I can keep the place picked up, but then lose my motivation to clean. Having her come also helps me keep things picked up and cleaner. I am so much happier with an clean house:)

Now my "photo bomb"
Coming home from the hospital.


Tummy time was a great success! Henry had gas last night and we looked online for help. This worked! River wanted in on the fun.

Tummy time last night seems to have sealed the deal. River says "this is MY baby!".

The "lost 24" hours, part 2.

After Henry was taken to NICU, I tried to get some sleep. Unfortunately, I was not able to settle down until after 4am. At 5:45 my OB came in to check on me. (talk about early rounds!). At 6:00, I took a shower - my first since Tuesday morning and we headed out at 6:30ish. Allan was actually off to a 7:10am Dr's appointment. We had been trying to get him in before the end of the year (and deductibles reset) and decided that he should just go. I headed to NICU.

I met an NICU nurse who was so nice and got me oriented towards the NICU. I had not been in an NICU since I worked at Rush over 10 years ago. There were "pods" and within a "pod" were six small rooms. It was like he had his own private room and we had privacy while we were with him. The good news was that she had gotten Henry to eat about 15ml, the bad news was that his sugar was still not anywhere near good. We decided (and agreed) that although breast feeding is important, getting good nutrition in Henry and his sugars up (so he could get out of NICU and come home) was the priority. I was able to feed him a bottle and he ate almost 2oz! I was thrilled to see him eat and felt that we were on the right track. I stayed for about 1hr 15 minutes and then headed back upstairs to try to go to sleep.

Honestly, at that point, I hit the wall. Allan got back to the hospital at about 9ish and had doughnuts from the Doughnut Vault! Yum! Having a donut made my day. I was so thankful that he had also run out the night before for Chick Fil-A since getting food became problematic. You needed to "order" it and it then took an hour to arrive. The problem was that you needed to be in your room and we were bouncing back and forth between NICU. We eventually found our system, but I did not eat all that much for Wednesday or Thursday.


While I hit the wall that morning, Allan was a champ. A lot of Thursday is sort of foggy for me. We went down to NICU for each feeding and the nurses were fabulous! The nurse that came in at 8:00am was also a lactation counselor (a step down from lactation consultant) and was a HUGE help in getting Henry to latch on with nipple shields and I felt like we were making progress. I would (attempt) to feed Henry for 10 minutes (we did not want him tired), and then would pump while Allan fed him a bottle. Honestly, it was wonderful that Allan could also be so involved in the process and get bonding time with Henry. The nurses were AMAZING with teaching us not only breastfeeding, but how to take a temperature, correctly diaper, hold the baby, etc. The bummer was that they had to constantly prick his heel for the sugar readings.

Our routine was as follows: Henry ate every three hours: 30 minutes before Henry was scheduled to eat, I would get up, go to the bathroom, etc. We would then leave to get to NICU and make sure we were there about 10 minutes before feeding time. We would change his diaper, take his temp, and the nurse would check his blood sugar. I would BF for 10 minutes, Allan would feed him his bottle while I pumped, one of use would cuddle/kangaroo with him, we would leave and get back to to the room with about 1hr 45min till we needed to get back down there.

By Thursday afternoon, we had our first "good" sugar reading (above 65). We kept at it and they started weaning him off the glucose IV on Friday at 1:00. I was discharged late on Friday night (11:15pm) and we were back on Saturday morning. We were discharged and took Henry home yesterday (Friday) at 2:00pm.


We are so thrilled to be home, but I still feel like 3:00am Thursday morning to midnight Friday were just lost. I am so happy to have a happy ending and have a healthy baby at home. I guess this scare made me appreciate him all the more!

The "lost 24" hours....part 1

The last day or so have been completely crazy but I am trying to write down what is happening since I can tell I am already forgetting things!

We did some "recovering" in the labor and delivery room and I started trying to breast feed. The nurse was helpful, but I never really got Henry to latch on or do any good sucking. We were moved to a room on the 13th floor and my new nurse was really helpful. She and I managed to get Henry latched and sucking on my right breast (now to be know as the "good breast" or GB), although I don't know that he got much. At our next feeding, at 8:00pm, we had less success:( As it turns out, my nipples are pretty flat and hard to latch onto. The nurse gave me some "soft shells" to try to get my nipples to pull out more and I started wearing them. I was not stressed though, I figured this happens to lots of people and that I could get a lactation consultant to come in the morning to help me out. Everyone says how hard this is, we just had to make it through the night. Unfortunately, the 10:00pm feeding did not go much better. The nurses took Henry off for a glucose check and told me that he was low (in the 40's). At about midnight, we were given a bottle and told that Henry's sugar was still to low and he needed to eat about an ounce/30ml and they would check him again. He needed to be in the 50's or they would call the NICU.

At 2:00am, his sugar was still not up. He had eaten a decent amount from the bottle, but I think he had ended up urpping most of it up (tiny stomach, first food). The nurse told me we could give it one more try and I went with her to the nursery and we got about 15ml of formula in him. He was just tired and not interested at that point. I left him in the nursery so they could check his sugar in an hour and went back to bed. Unfortunately, Allan had completely hit the wall at about midnight and while I could wake him up, I decided not to since he was so out of it when he was awake. At 3:00am, the nurse came and told me that his sugar was still not up, and was actually dropping. He was being taken downstairs to the NICU. :( I woke Allan up so we could both kiss Henry goodbye. It was really hard. Henry was awake with both eyes were open for the first time (that I had seen). After he was gone, I made Allan get in the hospital bed and cuddle with me. I am surprised it did not collapse under our combined weight.

I had been told to give the NICU nurse about an hour to get him checked in and settled down. I called down at about 4:00am and was told that Henry had eaten about 15ml and was sleeping. They were going to feed him every three hours, so his next feeding was at 7:00am. I was told that I could come down anytime, but that he was sleeping and the best thing would be for me to sleep as well and come down at about 6:30am so that we could get introduced to the NICU and be ready to go for the 7:00am feeding.

Welcome to the World, Baby Boy

I took this picture last night and had intended to have a blog post titled "Induction Attempt #2" today since eggplant parmigiana is a time honored southern tradition for starting labor. We went to Topo Gigio on Wells after a basketball game and had our *last* dinner as a couple. I had been feeling a little weird all day but as Allan had been saying to me "you feel weird all the time", so I did not think much about it. I did feel the need to clean up before going to bed and throw stuff away, try to tie up some loose ends via email, etc.

As normal, I did not sleep well. Lights out at 11:30, up to pee at 1:30. I was lying in bed, listening to Allan snore and felt something *funny* and then felt lots of liquid. I jumped out of bed and ran to the bathroom where it felt like I was peeing out a gallon of water. Totally clear, did not smell, I just kept peeing. Even after I was done, I kept leaking. Yes, my water had broken. Allan and I called the Dr., packed up, made a few (dog related) phone calls, walked the dog, and were at Prentice an hour later. I was definitely having contractions, but nothing terrible or that painful. I NEVER would have gone in to L&D or even called a Dr for these contractions, even though they were about 5 minutes a part.


We were checked into triage, they established my water had broken, and we were put in a room, waiting for a room on the L&D floor. The good/amazing news is that MY Dr. was the Dr. on call for the practice and he was going to be the one to deliver me!:) Happy Days! Unfortunately, the storm that came into town had also brought many other women into labor and our short wait for a room, turned into a three hour wait. This would have been fine except my nausea came back with a vengeance after my water broke. I finally ended up taking one of my own zofran (the nurses wanted me to wait to get upstairs), but it was to late. Before I was sent up stairs, they established that my cervix was dilated to 2cm - up from the 1 it has been for the last 10 days.:(

We made it to the L&D floor at about 5:00am. The Dr. came in and started me on Pitocin. I was a little against this but understood his reasoning, we needed to get the contractions going more consistently to get the baby out of me since my water had broken. I had been told,....if they do anything to speed up your labor, get the epidural first. (good advice, take it if you are ever in this situation). I actually asked about an epidural at that point but was not in much pain so the Dr said to wait. Things progressed and by 7, I wanted the epidural. It was weird, it was not that I could not tolerate the pain, it was that I did not want to. Part of it was that there was no end in sight. The other thing was that my blood pressure had been VERY high since I was in triage and there were concerns regarding pre-eclampsia. The whole point of waiting for an epidural was that I would be able to move around, they were worried about pre-e so I was not allowed to get out of bed.

Unfortunately, by the time I asked, someone else was in line ahead of me and by the time they were in the room and setting up, it was 8:00am, I was VERY uncomfortable, and spent most of the process throwing up. Not pretty. Allan was kicked out and I told him to go get some breakfast and take a walk. He later told me that he was scared by the sounds I as making when he left. The good news is that I thought the epidural was GRAND, and felt soooo much better and in a nicer mood. Then nurse upped the pitocin and I was very bummed to hear that I was still only at 2cm at 9:00am when they checked me.

I spent the morning in a daze, watching tv, looking out the window, talking on the phone a little. At 9:00am I realized (or processed) what they were telling me. While my water had broken, my body was not ready to go into labor and that was why they were really pushing the pitocin. Essentially, they were forcing my body into labor. I was also made to realize that this would be a LONG process. At that point, my goal became to have the baby before 5:00pm when my Dr. went off call and a new Dr. would deliver me. It was determined that the baby was "happier" if I as on my left side, so I pretty much hung out there and felt my legs getting numb.

I sent Allan out to get some food before noon and walk around. A new nurse came on shift at noon and we talked a little about the process. Again, I settled in for a long term, first pregnancy labor. Allan got back at about 12:20 and we hung out. The medical student came in, and at about 12:30 a resident came in to introduce herself and check my progress, which I thought was great. I had been told they don't check you that much because there is some risk of infection - which made sense, I just wanted to know if I had made any progress since 9:00am. The nurse had told me at noon that they would wait for me to tell them when things felt different....which I thought was crazy, because I had an epidural! I had a hard time shifting around in bed so she could check. Things had been feeling a little different for the prior 30 minutes, but I figured it was just the contractions getting stronger. I could feel the baby getting lower and the nurse had to keep moving the monitors down.

The poor resident started to check me and pretty much went white. She asked how I felt and when I said ok, she said that I was 10cm dilated and she could see the baby's hair. It pretty much started a crazy fire drill where they told me not to push (it now felt like I needed to) while they found the nurse, Dr and got things set up. By 12:45 they had me ready to go, less than 4 sets of three pushes later, Henry was born at 12:58pm! 7lbs, 15oz, 20.5 inches. Lots of black hair!

Cookie Exchange

I have friends that have a cookie exchange every year. You bring 4 dozen cookies and take turns going through the cookie line "in rounds", usually ending up with over 4 dozen cookies. Last year I made cookies that tasted good, but were not all that pretty - and they were clearly not high on the "desirable cookie" list I was determined to do better this year.....

Another requirement of the party is that the cookies have to be homemade. At 38 weeks pregnant, I decided to bend the rules a little..... Here were my ingredients.

I ground up the candy canes and sprinkled them on top of the cookies just before they were done in an attempt to add some Christmas cheer( and make the cookies look less ""break and bake").


Again this year, the cookies tasted awesome, but were still in the "cookie dog" category. I guess I need to be content to be best in show for cookie eating, not baking.

39 weeks

I realized that if I open the shades in the bathroom, I don't need a flash and the pictures will be better.....duh

The Tree is Up!

I already posted about putting the tree up last week (and River's hatred of it), but had not yet posted a picture (and wanted to since I blog as a journal). I think we went a little small on the tree this year, but like it. I especially like all the ornaments and how each means something different to me. Where did I get it? Who gave it to me? How long have I been hanging it on the tree.

Good times. I only wish I could have been drinking while while putting up the tree this year! I don't even have that excuse for the fact that it is crooked!

I just cleaned the oven....nesting or sick of smelling smoke when I cook? :)

Self-Induction Attempt #1

Pineapple! I have heard that eating fresh pineapple is one way to self induce. Since I like pineapple.....I figure why not!

It was a great addition to our breakfast of bacon and chocolate chip pancakes. I told Allan that all meals from now on need to include either a fruit or a veggie. For some reason, this has been hard lately (even thought it should not be).

Trying to stay healthy, one meal at a time.....

To the three people who read my blog....any other tips to self induce? I have heard:
eggplant parmigsain
McDonalds Big Mac with extra special sauce
castor oil (yuck, no thanks)
crawl around like a baby/clean on your hands and knees
sex
spicy food - can't do it with the nausea and heartburn.

I am ready to go at this point!

The Cookie Diet

When I weighed in at the Dr's office on Friday the nurse told me I had lost a little weight. I told her it was the non-stop cookie diet I had been eating for the past few days. Here is the deal - in my 38 weeks pregnant world, if you replace meals with cookies, you won't gain weight!:)

The cookie diet started at P.E.O. on Wednesday night. As normal at the December meeting, I sat next to the cookie table where people were leaving all the cookies they had made and brought (for snacks and for the cookie exchange afterwards). I discovered years ago, that if I sat by the cookie table, I could eat cookies through the meeting. How smart am I?

There were lots of good cookies, but by far, my favorite was "White Trash Toffee" which was brought and served out of a cool whip container (I kid you not). My friend and I ate a good 1/3 of the container before the meeting was over and I was seriously tempted to just take the container and hide it before the meeting ended (and all of the other vultures came to eat cookies).

See recipe below......
White Trash Toffee
40 saltines
1 cup of light brown sugar - packed
1 cup butter
12 oz semi sweet chocolate chips
1 handful plain roasted almonds (chopped)

Spray a rimmed cookie sheet with Pam, spread the saltines next to each other other on the pan.

In a saucepan, bring butter and sugar to a boil and cook for 3 minutes, until thicker, but not to caramel.

Pour over saltines, bake for about 3 minutes, it will come out bubbly.

Sprinkle chocolate chips over the saltines and put in oven for 1 minute.

Take out of oven, spread chocolate over the saltines, sprinkle with almonds.

Allow to set in the freezer for about an hour, break into pieces.

Hoard carefully.....

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!

Soon this beautiful hat will be mine!

I logged on to Google Reader today and Another Mother Runner showed up as having a new post. I logged on and saw that they had announced the winners of their "humpday giveaway" for Wizbang Hats. I saw my name jump out at me from the page! I am a winner!

I have been following Another Mother Runner (Dimity and SBS) for at least a year now. Stalking (um, following) running blogs has become somewhat of an obsession since I got pregnant. I have also been reading lots of running books and watching lots of running movies. At 39 weeks, pregnant, I am ITCHING to get back out there, even if it is just walking the dog and running a minute here and there.....

Just one more plug for Another Mother Runner. Here is what I love about their giveaways: You don't have to "like them on facebook", "like the company on facebook", email three friends that you love both the blog and the company, and jump through three other hoops. You just need to post! Horray and thanks again Another Mother Runner and Wizbang Hats!

38 weeks - blah Monday

My camera is either dying or I need to clean the lens (which I just did). I feel like I look MUCH bigger this week. Maybe it is that I am not wearing black? Perhaps I should have Allan take pictures of me instead of relying on the guest bathroom mirror? I like the way my hair is looking these days, I am sad it is all going to fall out post baby (at which point I will chop it all off).

Another good weekend of doing stuff, but not to much stuff with plenty of rest. I hope to take pictures of the tree tonight to post tomorrow. Poor River is terrified of the tree and is now spending most of his time in the box and looking at me with a forlorn expression on his face. This is an improvement in that he is now staying on the same floor as the tree for longer than 3 seconds. Poor baby:(

The Case of the Black Eye

Picture from Thursday

Allan got bonked in basketball on Tuesday evening and called me Thursday, telling me he had a black eye. This has been the case for much hilarity and my attempting to claim credit!:) It is fun to look at it every day and see it getting more dramatic.....

Remember - it is not what actually happened, it is the story you tell....


Picture from Saturday

My Favorite Thing

So CVS had a deal on Black Friday - buy a Starbucks Double Shot, get $1.69 back in "extra bucks" (so it was pretty much free). Of course I bought one with my card and another with Allan's. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE I am now sad that I have already consumed both and am trying to justify going to buy more....maybe I could buy them using the "extrabucks"? I have to go back to CVS today to get a script for Allan filled...

I am completely obsessed at this point.

Thankful for Thursday

Wednesday is my busiest day of the week so when Thursday rolls in, I am usually thankful. Partly because I don't have to be at work till 4pm! A big part of this is because I am still scaling back for the impending baby landing. I need to remember that I am NOT lazy, just getting ready. Exciting plans for the morning include: laundry, cleaning, picking up crap, etc. Then off to meet Amy for the One of a Kind show at the Merchandise Mart before heading to work.

It has been an interesting week so far. Baby was VERY active most of Sunday, Monday and 1/2 of Tuesday. Then he went almost silent - to the point that I had to lay in bed on Wed morning and actually feel for kicks. At that same time, I got crampy, crabby, and pretty sick. I thought it might be the calm before the storm but slept GREAT Tuesday night and last night and am feeling really good today. We shall see.

Yesterday I took some 37 week pictures in the guest bathroom (19 lbs gained). I am constantly impressed by both my mad blogging and photography skills. *snort* I have also decided that ALL pictures of me need to be taken from above (compare the picture from Sunday night with the ones here).

These "front" shots kinda mystify me. I feel huge but don't even really think I look pregnant in them....must be a combo of the black (slimming) and photography angle (super slimming:).


NOW I see it! People at work yesterday were saying I looked bigger and lower. Hopefully I can keep this baby cooking for another 7-10 days!

Cyber Monday/37 weeks

Look at those chubby cheeks! Yikes! I am a little puffy today and have also been embarking on carb-a-palooza so I can look forward to being puffy for at least another day at this point.

Saturday night ended up being very fun. We had a fast dinner at Taco Joint (Armitage and Halsted). It was reasonable for a "sit down" taco place and I enjoyed my elote and taco salad. Allan said his gordita was fabulous, but the taco of the day was "meh". The margaritas were also good (by report).

We then headed off to Century City to see The Descendants with George Clooney. Even though we bought tickets at home online, when we got into the theater (15 minutes before the start time of the show), it was COMPLETELY packed. I have never seen a theater so full, or one that was oversold for that matter. We ended up at My Week With Marilyn instead. The girls loved it, I think the boys were "ok" with the choice. But at that point, there were limited options and we had already purchased snacks for a movie! Michelle Williams is amazing.

Yesterday (Sunday). We got more "stuff" done and C&D came over to watch the Bears game. Here is what I remember about the game:
Cutler was out and Bears need a better backup quarterback
the weather looked better in Oakland than it did in Chicago
River continually "crop dusted" us as we watched the game.

After the game we headed out to The Publican for dinner with another group. Allan said it was the best meal of the year. I don't know if I would say best meal, but it was in the top 5 for sure. Everything was amazing. Highlights (for the non fish eater) were the hanger steak, ham plate, duck, and chocolate tart. Apparently the oysters and sturgeon were also amazing. I hope that we can take my parents there when they visit over Christmas in a month.

I read somewhere that women get "cranky" before labor starts. If that is the case, watch out! On the other hand, I was woken up by a bunch of cranky people yelling at each other outside my window this morning, so it could just be that as well.

Turkey Day and Beyond.....

If there are pictures associated with this post, than I will actually have FOUND the cord which connects the camera to my computer. Let's all hope. It's been a fun weekend so far but here is what I have been thinking about:
baby
labor
baby
sleep
baby

We have had a good weekend so far. Thanksgiving started off with Allan running an 8k turkey trot with his friend while I hung out with the wife and kids in Lincoln Park. Allan ran a respectable 48:29 and his friend CRUSHED the race with a 39:45. Yikes! He had said his goal was to beat 40 minutes since he turned 40 this year. Wow. I can't wait to run the race next year with the goal of "run the whole thing".

We had grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch and then headed home for a nap before heading out to "the LF" for dinner. Being pregnant has its advantages, we were asked to bring "bread" SCORE! The food was awesome. My favorite part was the sweet potatoes with marshmallows. yum, yum. We came home and created a ginormous list for the weekend before crashing to sleep. I brought my camera but did not take pictures since it seemed everyone else was...but now I have none to post. *fail*
River has no problem relaxing.....

Allan called yesterday relaxing and while we did nap, I was really happy with the fact that we (I) was able to start working through the list. I am not sure if this is some sort of crazy nesting response, but it made me feel happy to get stuff done. I ended up taking my car to the dealer for two *minor* recalls and an oil change. About an hour after we left the dealer, they called me and told me I could not have my car back. One of the recalls was for the sunroof and mine was "the worst they had seen yet". The long and short is/was that my car is not road safe and they can't give it back to me till it is fixed and currently sunroofs are backordered nationally....so I have a loner for the duration that requires me to either fold Allan in half or chop off his legs for a drive more than 30 minutes.

We had lunch at The Counter (yum), rented MI:III (in preparation for Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol which we want to see in December), and did some Black Friday shopping at CVS (this is about all the shopping I can handle). At home we continued to work on the list and ended up watching Limitless with Bradley Cooper, which was fine for a free movie, but I was glad we had not paid for it.

Lazy day today (Saturday) so far. I am off to go hang curtains in the baby's room and work on more shopping for Allan since his birthday falls right after Christmas. I feel that I need to be prepared for both early this year.

In more random thoughts: the blogger I posted about in "Do People Lie About What They Eat?" has suddenly started posting some less than stellar food choices (or things that are "normal"). Do I think she read my blog? not a chance! I just think it is a funny and weird coincidence.

Another running blogger I follow who has been pregnant had her baby. She has been BIG and measuring ahead the entire pregnancy and went full term (over 37 weeks) but had a smaller baby (under 7lbs). I was surprised. Should I be?

I cried this morning when I worked on packing my hospital bag. Stressed? Yes! Part of me can't wait to get this baby out, the other part is FREAKING OUT!

We are headed out later to pick up our crib and will likely have another fun filled night on the couch. The excitement never ends!

Half and Half Coffee

I told my sister on the way to work today that I made half and half coffee (half coffee, half 1/2 and 1/2). I was not paying attention this morning and had a slight "overpour". Yum. At this point, dairy continues to be my main source of calories so I am not worried. Both the dog AND I were sick this morning. Here is hoping that Allan can survive unscathed. Today, one of my biggest fears is that I continue to feel sick most of the time after the baby comes. I know this is not realistic but it is still a fear.

Took some 36 week pregnancy photos this morning. Check out my "fake it till you make it" smile. I am clearly NOT any sort of professional photographer and had not washed my hair - but at least I am TRYING!:)



ok - off to find out if my 9:45 is merely late or not showing up. If they no show I am not going to be happy because I have a HUGE hole in my schedule and did not bring enough stuff to do today.

I am thankful for:
1. The fact that River seems to be feeling better and is eating again.
2. Milk - it does my body good (during this pregnancy at least).
3. half and half coffee
4. The book "The Night Circus" - I am still loving it.

Monday Mope (36 weeks today)

I was exhausted yesterday after doing some errands in the morning. I got back home about 1:00 and went back to bed. Allan came home eventually and we had spaghetti and garlic bread for dinner. I'm working hard to get back in to cooking (even just a little). Between not wanting to eat a night (heartburn) and just not being hungry at night - my cooking for dinner has suffered. Also, I eat so little, it seems not worth the time. My goal this week is to cook dinner at least two nights.

I managed to stay up till 11 (which is good) but was up again at about 3:30 and could not get back to sleep. I started reading the Night Circus which is great so far. I am excited to read more tonight (hopefully not in the middle of the night though). I did go back to bed eventually but when the alarm went off, I seriously did not think I could physically get out of bed. They say if you wake up in at the wrong point in your sleep cycle it is harder to get up. I have been up without alarms for months so this morning was BRUTAL!. I did manage to get up, shower, get Allan from work, and get us both to the OB office by 9:15. They write down when you get to the office on your sheet so the pressure is on to be on time!

The good news is that my weight is still good, I was up .2lbs this week (still under 20lbs for the pregnancy). The OB says that my cervix is closed but is thinning (about 50%). He said everything looks good and that I could go into labor at anytime. My next appointment was supposed to be next week - and we made it for Friday so it is more like two weeks away at this point. I hope to make it to that appointment! At this point I am just tired and achy most of the time - which is normal for this stage. I am excited to have another ultrasound next week to "check up" on the baby.

One of my favorite things to do during this pregnancy is to go to the Doughnut Vault after OB appointments and get two old fashioned buttermilk doughnuts and a cup of coffee. We made it to DV by 10:00 and they were sold out/closed for the day. I got teary and almost started to cry. Pathetic, I know. I just had been looking forward to getting DV for a week! I don't even like doughnuts, only those from DV. My ridiculous food based stress continued when I saw later that Allan went to Pinkberry for lunch. I LOVE Pinkberry and got all bummed out again! At that point, I went to Starbucks to get a mocha and scone for lunch - yes, my nutrition is beyond stellar! Maybe I was weepy because I was hungry....duh!

Good day at work, I think I am ready for the accountant tomorrow and am now sitting and watching the Sing Off. I may go crawl into bed with a bottle of water and the Night Circus. hmmmm maybe I'll write some more thank you notes first. SO CLOSE to being caught up with them! Also need to get out the sewing machine, work on some mending, hang curtains. hmmmm we will see what happens

Do People Lie About What they Eat?

As I sat down to lunch today (hot dog, chips, grapes) I thought about a blog I follow were the blogger literally posts EVERY meal she eats WITH pictures. Of course she is thin, beautiful, perfect (and young). I wonder, does she ever go hog wild with chips, pizza, chocolate or does her blogging (which I think she makes a living off) keep her completely on track?

I did not take a picture of my lunch - yes, it was that pathetic (but yummy). I am off to finish it off with homemade ice cream.

Super Saturday!

These days, I pretty much don't sleep past 7:00 because I wake up nauseus and need to eat something to settle my stomach (mostly because I really don't eat much at night). This 7:00am wake up call is actually the second one. Usually the first is between 2:30 and 3:30 when I have to pee and then can't sleep, so end up reading in bed for an hour our so. At this point, if I get good sleep between when I fall asleep (between 10-11) and the 2:30-3:30 wake up call, I am happy. Last night, I redboxed Captain America and (I) fell asleep during the point at which blue stuff was injected into the lead actor (Charlie?).

I made cinnamon rolls (undercooked) for breakfast and also cooked the last of the pancetta in the oven. Allan came down and was VERY happy. I tried to take a picture of his breakfast: honeycomb cereal, mountain dew, cinnamon roll but my camera battery is dead. He has now been gone for a few hours to see the trainer, get gas, do a costco run......and generally avoid the list here at the house.

I've been busy with trying to fill up all the garbage cans available to me, clean off the balcony, organize stuff and do laundry. My trick is to set the kitchen timer and work for an hour on my feet, then take a break. It is amazing to me that I NEED a break after an hour. I was ready to sit down when I heard the timer. After an hour off my feet (seven thank you notes and some web surfing), I am ready to get back up....but may not make it an hour. LOTS going on in the belly today!:)

We had an EARLY dinner at Geja's (thanks to a groupon). It was great and the interior is so dark that you can't tell what time it is, or what the weather might be like outside for that matter. I *knew* we could split one "meal" but ended up ordering the cheese and chocolate package for me and a full meal for Allan (including meat). Fondue is GOOD but heavy. We were done eating by the time the meal was over. It was fun to have a "date" dinner before the baby and pretend to be romantic.


After dinner we headed out to see the Immortals at City North 14. While I am glad we went to a movie, it may or may not have been worth $30 (2x 3D movie tickets + parking). We put in Captain America and it put me to sleep AGAIN! I may ask for a copy of the movie for Christmas to use as a sleep aid.

Dammed if you do.....dammed if you don't

I had my "midwest baby shower" last weekend. It was a wonderful event that was well attended by family and friends. As I have said before, I continue to be amazed by the generosity of the people in my life. There was some drama on who to invite. On one hand, I wanted everyone to feel included and be invited, on the other other hand, I did not want people to feel I was trolling for presents (especially since I was married about six months ago and most people have ALREADY been very generous to me this year.) Adding to this, at almost 40, everyone in my life has been to NUMEROUS baby showers and I think most are "done" with them. After the first 20, they are not as fun anymore.

There ended up being about seven people who were "on the bubble". They are all people who I have been close to in the past but am not currently close to and/or have not physically seen recently. After asking several friends in the "friend groups" with these friends, only one of the seven ended up being invited (someone that I ended up seeing for coffee and explained the situation to.) In the course of my asking for advice, I received an two different emails that made me VERY gunshy about inviting anyone that was not currently a good friend/someone that I had not recently seen or contacted. Etiquette says that if you are invited, you should sent a present. Again, I did not want people to feel obligated to attend, or give a present. Given this, I decided to go "small".

Of course, pictures are now on Facebook and one of the friends who was not invited has already made a comment that makes me feel bad they they were not invited. I am sure I am the topic of some emails right now. ugh

Did I make the right decision? Should I have worked to keep this event off Facebook?

I am going to write a separate post on the actual baby shower that is not angst filled....

coffee catastrophe

So I decided to make coffee at home this morning a la Tabitha since I had the time, inclination, and all necessary ingredients. Allan nicely provided me with REAL 1/2 and 1/2 after I mocked him regarding his fat free 1/2 and 1/2 purchase.

I made the coffee, and then promptly dropped it on the sidewalk while walking to my car to go to work. Not to worry (I think) I have a Tassimo and 1/2 and 1/2 at work so I thought I'd just make another cup there. Great idea till I was in a hurry and dumped RANCID 1/2 and 1/2 in my coffee. Yuck. The bummer is the 1/2 and 1/2 was still supposed to be good (per the date)! grrrr I then made ANOTHER cup with the only stuff I had left, sweetened coffee - which was to sweet. At this point, I am headed to starbucks (which I wanted to do anyway) and feel like I have wasted a TON of time and money. Now I have read a blog article that from 2-5 today holiday drinks at Starbucks are BOGO, so I am going do errands first and get coffee after 2pm (and save my BOGO for tomorrow).

I also decided to take a picture of the "penis candy" that was given to me at my baby shower last weekend from a German guest. I don't see it, but Allan could not stop laughing last night.


The baby dropped at some point yesterday, I think when I fell (not hard) walking home last night from my car. My center of gravity is COMPLETELY different and I have already slipped in the bathroom and crashed into a wall today. He is also sitting on my pelvis, which makes ANY movement VERY uncomfortable. eh - I won't be pregnant forever! My friends last night kept telling me how great I look - I feel crappy - at least I LOOK good!:)