Pregnancy Tales

More fun tidbits on pregnancy as of late.....

-The baby is moving so much and it is really visible from the outside now. I still can't make out the baby's exact position (i.e. what body parts I'm feeling/seeing) but I can certainly tell when something is poking up under my rib cage. This week, I've noticed that sometimes when I cross my arms and rest them on my belly, the baby kicks upward with such force that my arms actually catch a little air and fly off my tummy (so sorry baby, was I invading your space?) The same thing happens if I lean too hard against a desk or table-KICK-it's like a "get back!" warning.

-I had a whole pile of labs drawn last week. I was thrilled that I passed my gestational diabetes screening (I was trying to imagine how the scene would go down if I did have diabetes and my Dr tried to send me, the dietitian who counsels patients with gestational diabetes to see a dietitian about my own gestational diabetes. Thankfully, we don't have to go there!) :o) The lab draw was torture though! They took 8 whole tubes of blood again and I nearly passed out! I am convinced that maybe they were secretly taking extra blood to donate it--the vampires! You never know with this economy....desperate times call for desperate measures. Seriously though, my nurse husband said he could have run the same labs on half the volumes of blood at his work. I guess they are just TRYING to make me anemic!

-Yesterday was weird. I seriously felt like I gained 3# all at once (according to the scale, I actually may have.....time will tell if it was a fluke). All of a sudden, I felt HUGE! I tried on 2 shirts in the morning, neither of which fit right anymore. I couldn't breathe deeply (my lung capacity is truly being compromised now). I couldn't bend over. My stomach seriously couldn't have gotten tighter--I think it was stretching before my eyes! My friends, this is the beginning of the 3rd trimester I'm afraid! ***And if I have you worried, don't be. I know huge weight gains overnight is not a good sign. I think most of yesterday's symptoms were due to the position of the baby over the course of the day.

-In Lu of yesterday's changes, I headed straight from work to shop for some larger tops. Graham came home from work, knowing that I had gone shopping, and opened the fridge to help throw on the last fixings for dinner. He burst out laughing when he found a GAP bag in the fridge. HA people! If you (like him) are thinking that the pregnancy forgetfulness has set in, it hasn't....at least not that severely. I had packed my LUNCH in a GAP bag thank you very much! When I told Graham this, he was a little disappointed and proceeded to share with me that he's super excited for the "end of pregnancy" during which he is hoping I really start to get loopy and forgetful and do crazy things that entertain him (like putting my clothes away in the fridge I guess!)

-We attended our first birthing class this week and I actually allowed myself to watch the video of a live birth. I knew that it would either alleviate some anxiety or worsen it. Thankfully, it did the former and I found myself actually tearing up when the baby came out--whoa, was not expecting that! During the video though, I was practicing my new breathing techniques to keep me relaxed and Graham was sitting behind me rubbing my neck and telling me "You're doing such a good job!" Haha, and that was only to keep my conscious during the video! I can only imagine what the real thing will be like! :o) (Actually, I feel quite at ease currently about the whole birthing process and am pleased with the relaxation skills we're learning).

-We've been doing a lot of talking about whether to have an epidural or not. My current birthing plan is to really not have much of a birthing plan because I know it will not go as I plan anyway. I have a general idea in mind but nothing set.

-Our bed has become pretty much 1/2 pillows, half bed. I think at one point Graham took almost every pillow we own (including pillows from the guest bedroom, throw pillows on the living room couches and chairs etc) to try and create a comfortable sleeping position for me. He had me just lay there while he stuffed a pillow here and a pillow there to try and support my back. It wasn't until I got up that I realized he had used about FIFTEEN pillows on the project!!!! Now I think we're down to about 9 pillows (only 5 of which I actually use while I sleep). :o)

Sometimes it is just beyond me how much my body is changing and I have to laugh at all the hoops I go through to try and keep up!

The nursery....well, sort of

I received a special request to post photos of our nursery so far (these are for you Shauna!) Haha, I had to laugh a bit since it so does not look like a nursery just yet. But please do notice we at least have a curtain rod, curtains and color on the wall! We've been trying to refrain from making too many purchases until after we have a shower or two (although we have decided to purchase our crib and dresser/changer). The crib has been ordered and should arrive any day! I'm super excited to get that set up so it will start to feel like a real nursery.

The closet at least has a few things hanging in it (onesies, a neutral blanket and some outfits for a 6 mo old boy which we may or may not get to use on this baby). We also have a good supply of children's books waiting to go on a shelf. Other than that, we don't have much else ready which is driving me NUTS! I know that it will all come together in the end but as a severely anal planner, it's tough for me to be patient!

An addition to the Himes Family

Our dear friends Jackie and Brant welcomed Madelyn Mae into the world on June 19th. We have been long anticipating Maddie's arrival but since she came a few days early, we changed around our weekend plans over Father's Day to make a trip down to Portland to meet her and visit with the new parents. I don't think I could have possibly waited another second to meet this little one! It was so neat to watch our close friends as they enter into parenthood and it made us all the more excited to do it ourselves in a few short months.

Maddie in her Daddy's lap on Father's Day

Practicing....(FYI my baby belly makes a perfect resting places for holding babies)

Looks like he's going to be a natural! Graham got really excited watching Brant lay on the couch with Maddie on his chest. Graham now can't wait to do it with our little one.
CONGRATS JACKIE AND BRANT!!!!!!!!

Reader's Digest Worthy?

I grew up reading all of the funnies sections in my parents' Readers Digest magazines. Did anyone else ever do that? They always used to crack me up!! Today I came across a story that sounded like it could be straight from the "All Days Work" section.

So in the NICU where I work, each baby has their own private room with a clear glass door so that the nurses can still see the babies even when the door is shut. There is also a privacy curtain that parents are welcome to pull closed when they are breast feeding or pumping or just wanting alone time. All that said to preface the following:

A NICU dad shared a hilariously awkward situation that occurred in his baby's room yesterday. His baby was born about 8 weeks early and so is far too young to be able to breast feed at this point. So, his wife has been working on pumping so that her milk supply will come in. Now, there are many tactics used to help promote an increased supply of breast milk one of which is to massage the breast tissue. Apparently, yesterday the couple was alone in the room with the baby with the curtain pulled and the husband was trying to help stimulate the "let down" reflux by massaging his wife's breasts (this may sound totally sexual but it definitely was not so in this instance). Well, of course at this exact moment, someone knocked on the door and asked if it was okay to come in. The husband answered yes, thinking it was his baby's nurse needing to come check on the baby (pretty much all privacy is lost when you earn a stay in the NICU). Well, the voice at the door did not belong to his baby's nurse but instead to the chaplain who was coming by to offer the family the Eucharist (my hospital is a Catholic hospital). Wow, I'll bet that poor chaplain sure got an eyeful! The situation was certainly not as it appeared, but man, imagine trying to talk your way out of that one!!?? :o)

Vancouver Highlights

Our overnight getaway was absolutely wonderful. Some of our recent trips have been slightly bittersweet, knowing they are somewhat of a "last hoorah" time thing before baby. This trip was great because a) it was spontaneous b) it is local-a perfect distance for a day trip or one-nighter and c) my parents live en route to Vancouver and I'm SURE they would let us drop a baby by on our way up north if we ever wanted to do this in the future. Our trip included:

An afternoon picnic and walk around Stanley Park

A wonderfully priced room on the 32 floor

An amazing view of the water from our room

Lots of driving/wandering downtown (This one's for you Glendon and Kaytee! Even though we couldn't be with you in person this weekend, we thought of you and found "your" street.)

A photo by the Olympic Countdown Clock

SUNSHINE! (We had perfect weather)

Breakfast outdoors on Granville Island

A total junk binge of french fries and Mudslide Pie at Red Robin (after enjoying a gourmet meal at an eclectic place called Revel in Gastown)

Not pictured: a trip up Grouse mountain in the Gondola, just like they did in the bachelorette! :o) We spent the afternoon up there, enjoying the views, a picnic, a lumberjack show and a grizzly bear sighting. On our way home, we stopped briefly in Bellingham to see my parents and one of my brothers. We built a bonfire in the backyard and roasted marshmallows...I think summer must officially be here!

Funny Story

Today someone at work asked me how I've been feeling.

My response was this: "Well, is extreme irritability a common symptom at 28 weeks?"
(I mean seriously, I hit 28 weeks on Sunday and since then, BAM!!! Watch out people!!!)

Anyway, so one of the nurse practitioners who I absolutely love and adore overhears me saying I'm irritable and immediately looks up and calmly but urgently tells me I need to call and tell my OB about it. I was a bit surprised and so asked her what my symptoms of irritability could possible indicate (meanwhile I'm racking my brain trying to figure out how it could physiologically be worrisome, whether it might lead to preterm labor, high blood pressure etc). She again, trying hard not to worry me, very firmly says "You're 28 weeks along and you're feeling irritable, I just really think you need to let your OB know."

"Yikes!" I'm thinking...."this must be really serious." But I really trust this nurse practitioner and am confident she really knows her stuff so I'm about ready to run to my office to call my OB. Thankfully, a piece of me hesitated, wondering "What on earth am I going to tell him!!? Um, Dr....I've been extremely cranky. My coworkers said I needed to call to let you know." Hmmmm. I bet if I said that he would think I was really off my rocker.

Meanwhile, the nurse practitioner can sense I'm a bit puzzled and so gives me the reasoning behind her concern (though she still is being very cautious not to worry me): "Anytime a pregnant woman's uterus started to feel irritable, you really want to watch closely for preterm labor."

HAHA! I could have lost it then and there. She was under the impression my UTERUS was irritable, NOT my emotions!!!!! Oh my goodness did we giggle once we realized the miscommunication!!

I guess the moral of the story is this: When it comes to pregnancy, many things can be irritable so BE SPECIFIC!! :o)

Spontaneous

Graham and I are embarking on a 3 day weekend which we both REALLY need after extremely horrible weeks at work. Our plans have changed 3 times (guess third time's the charm??) but we're hoping this last one will stick. Initially we took vacation time from work so we could go visit our wonderful friends Glendon and Kaytee in Utah. Unfortunately that fell through when schedules didn't coordinate and we couldn't find airfare for less than $300-400 per person. We decided to switch gears and stay in-State and visit our other dear friends in Spokane, the Moodys. But then found out yesterday that they are up to their ears in packing boxes for an upcoming move on Sunday so the timing just wasn't right for a visit.

So, here we are, with time off work and nothing planned (which is actually a bit luxurious if I do say so myself!) Spontaneously, we decided to get on priceline.com and see about booking a 4 star hotel in Vancouver for tonight for cheap--success! The Hyatt Regency Vancouver, here we come! We have been watching (should I really admit this???) the bachelorette this season (okay so it's more me watching and if Graham happens to be in the room, it's pretty hard for him not to see our new big screen tv) and for those of you who don't know, the bachelorette is from Vancouver. We've been seeing lots of footage of the city and it reminded us that we should pay it a visit. As soon as Graham wakes up, we'll pack our bags and head out to do who knows what in the Great White North.

I like to be able to justify most every extravagant thing that I do so I was trying to figure out what holiday or occasion we are celebrating with this trip. There's Father's Day (or Father-to-be day) in a couple weeks and Graham's birthday is next month...neither of those seemed quite right. I finally settled on Flag Day (which is on Sunday) as the reason behind our trip until Graham gently reminded me "Yes dear, it makes perfect sense to celebrate our American flag by taking a trip to CANADA." :o) Nice try I guess....

Anyway, we'll stay for a night in the city and then may be pop down to my parents' place in Bellingham on Saturday to see them and my brothers (if they can get healthy again--they've all been a bit under the weather). What else we'll find to do? Who knows? But I'm hoping a trip ti Ikea is in the near future...

Hooray for flexibility and spontaneity! Here's to a great 3 day weekend!

Poopy Day

I must just be having one of those days....

Poor Graham is having to jump in the "comforter" role every other second or so today. Thankfully, dinner prep tonight included chopping a jalapeno with my bare hands so I decided that my teary day would have to come to an end because I'd "get spice in my eyes" trying to wipe the tears. :o) It must be a new wave of hormones or something. I just don't know why they are surging so strong today though.

So basically the last week and a half have been really rough at work. I've been training another dietitian to cover during my maternity leave and of course we've had more critical patients then ever, making it very challenging to get my work done and teach her at the same time. Last week I was way into overtime and was unable to take my breaks and lunch on a number of days because I had so many critical patients. One day I worked almost 10 1/2 hours (a record for me) before calling it quits for the day. All in all though, there were moments last week where I actually really loved my job more than ever as I really thrive when I am challenged. To make a long story short though, basically at the end of it all, I was told that I couldn't be compensated for the breaks that I worked through. I pretty much donated my time then which is frustrating since I worked my butt off last week and won't be paid for the extra effort. So that has been erking me and making me feel very unappreciated and un-valued in my job.

Then today, I had a doctor speak (actually yell would be a better descriptor) extremely disrespectfully to me which almost set me through the roof. Thankfully, I was able to respond calmly to his incredibly rude remarks (and I don't think many people even noticed the steam coming out of my ears!) Needless to say, I did not think very nice thoughts in my head and now am dreading going to work tomorrow and the next since I will have to work with him (he's basically undoing all the hard work and extra hours I put in last week). But, I have a full team of nurses, nurse practitioners, pharmacists and other staff who are behind me....it still stinks to be the one to get almost yelled at for standing up for a patient.

I can't end on such a sour note. Things really aren't that bad. The good news in our household is that Graham set up our new tv yesterday and to our surprise, we now have like a bazillion channels! I FINALLY HAVE FOOD TV!!!!! This is quite exciting for me as I have not had the Food Network since I lived at home with my parents. And to think we're didn't pay anything extra for all these new channels... (okay, well I guess you could say we paid multiple hundreds of dollars for the tv that led to the increased number of channels but that's besides the point.....) :o)

I think I will remedy my emotional day with a slice of Maple Mocha Brownie Torte and then hit the sack early.

Neutral Smeutral

On Thursday, I came across this little number at Ross for a good price and so jumped on it. Not knowing the gender of our baby is making shopping a bit challenging so I thought this outfit was a nice, neutral style that would work for either a boy or girl.

I proudly showed it to Graham when he arrived home from work only to have him respond by saying "Could I put a boy in that!!??" I guess our definitions of "neutral" differ! I was thinking the orange and the blue polka dots made the outfit more masculine than feminine and so was wondering if it would work on a GIRL. I guess you don't see many men walking around with teddy bears on their tees but babies can get away with anything!

On another note, I wanted to poll all you readers who are moms again and ask your opinion. I'm trying to figure out what kind of baby carrier you all would recommend, particularly in the early infancy stage. The Ergo baby has come highly recommended as the baby grows past 15# (better for the back I guess). However, I was told it doesn't offer as much support to the newborn. What did you moms like? The baby bjorn? A sling?

A threat

Today, my husband's location of employment (which shall remain nameless) :o) received a bomb threat. Graham called me from work around 5 PM to say that "Something really weird is going on around here." He proceeded to tell me that his floor was being told that they could not transfer any patients to other floors for some unknown reason. He also said there were police and dogs crawling around everywhere. Hmmmm.....His charge nurse tried to call around to figure out what on earth was going on but alas, even she could not be in-the-know.

Well, sure enough, it wasn't until Graham arrived home and checked his work e-mail that he found out someone had phoned the hospital at around 1:30 this afternoon saying two bombs would be going off at 5 PM this evening. And where was he at 5 PM tonight?? Still on his floor, clueless as to what was happening a couple floors over.

It's good to know that in emergent situations such as this, his employer keeps its employees locked inside with no idea what is going on!! I will certainly rest at ease knowing that if the place goes up in smoke, at least they did their best to ensure as many people as possible went along with it! I mean seriously!!!???? WHO DOES THAT???

I got my blueberry bushes so....

Yesterday Graham got a flatscreen tv! For those of you long-time readers, you'll remember this was sorta part of the deal. Although the real deal was that if I got a baby, Graham could finally replace our big clunker tv (that we got for free). Well, either way, yesterday we became the proud owners of our very first flat screen tv!! It was kind of a spontaneous buy (yes we'd been planning to get one, but not necessarily yesterday--I'm getting a special bonus check at work tomorrow so happy early birthday to Graham!). We had a lovely picnic after church at one of our favorite parks in Bellevue on Meydenbauer Bay. After reading a book and laying out for a bit, Graham decided since we were in Bellevue, why not stop by Video Only to show me some of the tv models he'd been eyeing?? Within 15 minutes of walking through the door, we exited with a tv in tow! Surprisingly, our salesman said it actually wasn't his fastest sale ever, but he'd take it! (He even gave us LG's newest model for last years' price). I think we saved ~$400 overall. Graham is going to mount the tv on the wall above our fireplace hopefully on Wednesday. He's also hiring our electrician friend Blake to come help us run the wires through the wall so that we don't have any ugly cords snaking down to some outlet in front of the fireplace (thank goodness for a husband who finds visual appeal as important as I do!)

On the way home from Video Only, Graham's dad called saying they'd found a piano at an estate sale that we could have for free--did we want it?? Man alive, to become owners of a flatscreen AND a piano all in the same day!!?? Although we both desperately want Graham to have a piano, we came to the same conclusion: we have no place to put it. Especially with a baby and all it's toys on the way. So unfortunately, we had to turn down a FREE piano! Hopefully we'll find a similar offer when we have a bigger place...

Once we get everything all set up, movie anyone? (I'll think we'll even have surround sound!)