Those of you who know me in person know that I am not an athletic person. I may have mentioned this once or twice before on these pages. I do not enjoy working out or training for anything, and my competitiveness is limited to board games. I was once recruited for the high school downhill ski team, but only because I was a girl who could ski, and I distinctly remember sitting out most if not all of my races. DNS was my middle name (I now realize this was really short-sighted, but at 15 I had none of that wisdom or selflessness). I don’t enjoy team sports - physical or intellectual – and I don’t like to join things like clubs, leagues or groups of any kind. I dislike watching sports on t.v.
Every four years though, every four years I go a bit nuts. It hit its peak in 2006 for the Torino Winter Games, where I remember I was on a trip for work and actually retired between events to my hotel room to watch the Olympics. I remember lying on my hotel bed, all dressed up, glued to the Mens’ Downhill. Every four years I will regale whoever is in the room with me with my in-depth (not really) knowledge of speed skaters, various world cup downhill runs, trivia about athletes from other countries, the origins of the Nordic biathlon, and our chances against the Swedish hockey team. I become a completely obnoxious sports lunatic.
The winter Olympics are far superior to the summer Olympics. Purists and ancient Greeks will argue that there’s no better competition than who can run faster, or who can throw that stick the furthest, but I will say that there’s no better challenge than doing all of that on ice with blades on your feet or with a gun. I’m pretty sure your chances of death are much reduced when participating in the summer Olympics, though some of those marathoners look pretty close to it most of the time. Summer Olympics are short-and-wiry-person friendly, whereas you need height and weight on your bones to get any speed going on a downhill run. I will grant you that there are some thrilling summer Olympic sports; velodrome biking, motocross, mens’ swimming, and triathlon are all kind of fun to watch. But nothing lights my fire like watching a sleek and enormous Dutchman fly around a shiny ice track in a skin-tight orange suit, thighs growing before my eyes. In my mind athletes of the winter Olympics are giant Nordic machines, built for icy climes, descending from the hills every four years to make use of the ice and snow around them. They go faster, higher, more super-propelled than any summer Olympian. They fall spectacularly, and get up and go down the hill again, like Anja Paerson of Sweden did just yesterday. People ask “how did she not break in half when she fell on that downhill run?” and the answer is “she does this all the time. She knows how to fall and is 99% muscle.” A couple of months ago 19 year-old US speedskater JR Celski sliced open his leg with his own skate blade, cutting 6 inches across and two inches down into his thigh. When he pulled out the blade, he saw his own femur. He went on to race a few months later and won a bronze medal. See? Winter Olympians are made of tough stuff.
Take Luge, for instance. I know everyone talks about Luge in hushed tones since the death of the Georgian luger the day of the opening ceremonies. That accident highlighted what is truly scary about the winter Olympics – they are unforgiving. Luge is like kiddie tobogganing, only on the craziest steepest iciest hill ever on a steerable toboggan with blades. Then there’s skeleton. The braver kids on the toboggan hill do their runs on their stomachs, holding onto their crazy carpets with their mittens instead of their boots. When those kids grow up they can go 140 km/h on the skeleton run – face first. I love downhill skiing, but I rarely even drive my car as fast as those male downhillers race down the icy mountain. We always think “oooh that hill looks icy and hard” but actually, for a true downhill run, they inject water into the hill to make it harder. It’s icy on purpose. Does anyone remember Brian Stemmle’s crash? Don’t look it up, it will make you toss your cookies. These guys are inherently insane, and that just makes for amazing television.
So consider me a Winter Olympics junkie. Watching these world-class athletes in peak physical condition compete at the highest level in their sport gives me a good excuse to lay on my couch and eat pizza, which is ironic but true. The house is a mess, the dog feels neglected, and I am getting by on very little sleep, but man, do I love these Olympics. I have to go. I think there’s a Mens’ Super G on right now.
2/12/10
One Down, Two to Go
Tomorrow I will be 14 weeks pregnant, so I’m now starting my second trimester, and so far so good. I have to say, after all of this dramatic lead-up and thinking that pregnancy is this huge crazy thing and wondering what kind of pregnant lady I will be, this pregnancy has so far been a piece of cake.
My belly’s starting to expand a bit. Where I previously had a mushy sort of pot belly, it’s now firm and I can’t suck it in. I am tired a lot, but it’s usually due to something I ate or being in a social situation (parties wipe me out unless I take a nap first). I am having some troubles sleeping at night, because my sleep cycle seems to lighten at around 3 or 4 a.m. and I invariably wake up from hubby’s snoring. His snoring’s not terrible – the neighbors can’t hear it or anything – but when you’re wide awake in the dark at 3 a.m. it’s pretty tough to ignore. I guess I am a bit more emotional than usual but I can’t say that I am a wreck or anything, aside from a handful of really down days. I don’t have any weird food cravings, haven’t really had any nausea, don’t miss drinking booze at all, and I have only gained about 2-3 lbs so far.
Challenges have included: getting dressed in the mornings, as I previously mentioned. My options are limited daily – I never know in advance what’s going to fit unless I stick with maternity clothes. And if normal clothes fit in the morning they often feel terrible by 2 p.m. as I seem to expand throughout the day. The biggest challenge this week is that I’m finding breathing more difficult than normal. I am asthmatic, but it doesn’t really feel like asthma; it just feels like I can’t take in enough air. It’s made me a bit lazier if that is even possible.
I am really trying to eat right. All bread-type products I eat are whole wheat (well, 80% I would say), and I try to eat as many fruits and veggies as possible. As snacks, I indulge in the occasional chips or chocolate, but usually it’s yoghurt or fruit juice or something, or triscuits which are my new top cracker. I drink a lot of water. The other day I got to work and had to go pee 5 times before lunch, from one large cup of tea.
Pottery classes are helping me get through the weeks; I’m on week four of an 8-week course that my friend is teaching, and since it feels like those are passing me by quickly, it means that the weeks are falling away. I am working on a set of plates. I’ve made three so far, all different sizes with different edges, not on purpose. Oh well, I imagine they will hold food even if they are tough to stack. By the time I finish this pottery course I’m hoping I can throw all of my effort into trying to feel this baby move around. It’s apparently the size of a medium-large shrimp right now (they always compare them to food – usually fruit, so I guess it's a lime this week or something) so I wouldn’t feel the force of its kicks just yet. Those legs are too noodley still, but hopefully by nearly 18 weeks it’ll be knocking on my belly, saying howdy-doo.
I have started to indulge myself in researching baby equipment. We seem to have chosen a stroller that we like, and I am looking at car seats that fit it. Our stroller needs to be tough, with good wheels for dirt roads and other rough terrain, lightweight for hauling up and down deck stairs, and fold compactly into the back of our car for shopping trips etc. We like the BOB Revolution stroller, which is a pretty sweet ride – it turns on a dime. I like the orange and brown version and hope to find a sale on it somewhere. It fits different brands of infant carriers/carseats so we’ll have to pick one of those out too. I already know which crib I like and what the baby’s room is gonna look like so all we still need large-things-wise is a smallish change table for our bedroom, a crib mattress, and a new t.v. – a flat-screen, not large, so it can unobtrusively go in the living room.
Future time markers include: next doctor’s appointment Feb. 23rd. I will be in meetings solidly from March 18th to 23rd, and my next ultrasound is March 24th, with another doctor’s appointment sometime around there as well. My second trimester goes until mid-May. The Austrians arrive August 5th, the Germans August 14th (my due date – don’t worry nobody’s staying at our place) and hopefully the baby will arrive sometime in there as well. I’m sure more time markers will pop up in that span, which will help me get through this waiting game.
I made the mistake of watching childbirth videos the other day – they were eye-opening, to say the least, but I don’t think I’m scared. I don’t think. I had to rewind the part where the baby came out about 5 times to fully absorb what my eyes were seeing. The head struggled to come out, all messy and squished-like, and then BLUP the rest of the body sort of barfed out of her hoo-ha in one fell swoop. Like I said, eye-opening.
Waiting makes me write more in this here blog, so expect to hear more from me in the coming months I’m sure…
My belly’s starting to expand a bit. Where I previously had a mushy sort of pot belly, it’s now firm and I can’t suck it in. I am tired a lot, but it’s usually due to something I ate or being in a social situation (parties wipe me out unless I take a nap first). I am having some troubles sleeping at night, because my sleep cycle seems to lighten at around 3 or 4 a.m. and I invariably wake up from hubby’s snoring. His snoring’s not terrible – the neighbors can’t hear it or anything – but when you’re wide awake in the dark at 3 a.m. it’s pretty tough to ignore. I guess I am a bit more emotional than usual but I can’t say that I am a wreck or anything, aside from a handful of really down days. I don’t have any weird food cravings, haven’t really had any nausea, don’t miss drinking booze at all, and I have only gained about 2-3 lbs so far.
Challenges have included: getting dressed in the mornings, as I previously mentioned. My options are limited daily – I never know in advance what’s going to fit unless I stick with maternity clothes. And if normal clothes fit in the morning they often feel terrible by 2 p.m. as I seem to expand throughout the day. The biggest challenge this week is that I’m finding breathing more difficult than normal. I am asthmatic, but it doesn’t really feel like asthma; it just feels like I can’t take in enough air. It’s made me a bit lazier if that is even possible.
I am really trying to eat right. All bread-type products I eat are whole wheat (well, 80% I would say), and I try to eat as many fruits and veggies as possible. As snacks, I indulge in the occasional chips or chocolate, but usually it’s yoghurt or fruit juice or something, or triscuits which are my new top cracker. I drink a lot of water. The other day I got to work and had to go pee 5 times before lunch, from one large cup of tea.
Pottery classes are helping me get through the weeks; I’m on week four of an 8-week course that my friend is teaching, and since it feels like those are passing me by quickly, it means that the weeks are falling away. I am working on a set of plates. I’ve made three so far, all different sizes with different edges, not on purpose. Oh well, I imagine they will hold food even if they are tough to stack. By the time I finish this pottery course I’m hoping I can throw all of my effort into trying to feel this baby move around. It’s apparently the size of a medium-large shrimp right now (they always compare them to food – usually fruit, so I guess it's a lime this week or something) so I wouldn’t feel the force of its kicks just yet. Those legs are too noodley still, but hopefully by nearly 18 weeks it’ll be knocking on my belly, saying howdy-doo.
I have started to indulge myself in researching baby equipment. We seem to have chosen a stroller that we like, and I am looking at car seats that fit it. Our stroller needs to be tough, with good wheels for dirt roads and other rough terrain, lightweight for hauling up and down deck stairs, and fold compactly into the back of our car for shopping trips etc. We like the BOB Revolution stroller, which is a pretty sweet ride – it turns on a dime. I like the orange and brown version and hope to find a sale on it somewhere. It fits different brands of infant carriers/carseats so we’ll have to pick one of those out too. I already know which crib I like and what the baby’s room is gonna look like so all we still need large-things-wise is a smallish change table for our bedroom, a crib mattress, and a new t.v. – a flat-screen, not large, so it can unobtrusively go in the living room.
Future time markers include: next doctor’s appointment Feb. 23rd. I will be in meetings solidly from March 18th to 23rd, and my next ultrasound is March 24th, with another doctor’s appointment sometime around there as well. My second trimester goes until mid-May. The Austrians arrive August 5th, the Germans August 14th (my due date – don’t worry nobody’s staying at our place) and hopefully the baby will arrive sometime in there as well. I’m sure more time markers will pop up in that span, which will help me get through this waiting game.
I made the mistake of watching childbirth videos the other day – they were eye-opening, to say the least, but I don’t think I’m scared. I don’t think. I had to rewind the part where the baby came out about 5 times to fully absorb what my eyes were seeing. The head struggled to come out, all messy and squished-like, and then BLUP the rest of the body sort of barfed out of her hoo-ha in one fell swoop. Like I said, eye-opening.
Waiting makes me write more in this here blog, so expect to hear more from me in the coming months I’m sure…
2/10/10
Mid-Forevuary
My hubby long ago dubbed February ‘Forevuary’ and it stuck. This January-Forevuary is so far proving to be the longest-seeming one so far on record, and I’m frankly getting a bit tired of it.
There are reasons for the neverending winter this year: one, I am pregnant. I am thrilled to bits about this and really enjoying it, feeling great, etc. but I have to say, the only things that get me through winter are skiing and other pursuits like toboganning, drinking, etc., and I can’t do any of them. I can’t do anything that involves speed and I have to watch myself on the ice. Something about my increased rate of oxygen exchange added to my perennial asthma yadda yadda makes breathing kind of an issue these days, so even walking the dog is an effort. Also, winter = a nice fire + red wine and that last one’s off the table, so I’ve tackled this Forevuary stone sober and breathless.
Secondly, it’s been pretty darn cold. This week’s not so bad but a couple of weekends ago when it was minus 30 and windy, I felt like the winter might never end. Poor hubby went on a ski vacation that weekend and his skin is still peeling off of his face. Change is in the air, however – something about the light this past few days has indicated that spring might be on its way, the temperatures have gone a bit more moderate, and no new snow has fallen, which makes me hopeful that winter will go out with a whimper.
Thirdly, I’m pregnant. And early-type pregnant, like I’m now 13 ½ weeks, and every day is being counted. As prisoners and kids waiting for Christmas know, counting the days makes them go more slowly, like watching the proverbial pot of water come to a boil. So today I am 13weeks 4days pregnant, tomorrow I will be 13weeks 5days pregnant, etc. etc and man, February is only 28 days but that is long. I hope that time will go more quickly once I start to grow, and start feeling kicks and stuff. Once I allow myself to start shopping for this baby (furniture, stroller, car seat etc.) it will go a bit faster, make it seem a bit more real.
Fourthly, I love to knit, but I’m working on a never-ending knitting project that’s got the whole system slowed down. There are three or four projects on deck, but I can’t start them until this one’s completed. It’s the second half of a Christmas gift, so it’s already tardy (sorry Kelly!), and it’s just taking me ages to get through it. Once I move on to baby stuff (a hat for a newborn, little sweaters for fall, perhaps a cheery blanket) things will click along again and I’ll get my mojo back. Just no cables for awhile, ’kay? I’m all cabled out.
Fifthly, I am officially sick of my winter clothes. I bought some new maternity clothes to get me over this little hump (in reality, I don’t really need them, but dayum maternity pants are COMFY. Why didn’t I know this before?) but in general the wardrobe is pretty limited and drab. I look forward to wearing lots of dresses (with no pantyhose), sandals, nice t-shirts, and not having to top it all with an unflattering puffy coat that’s getting tight in the belly. I look forward to walking the dog in my hiking shoes that lace up and fit me correctly, instead of my giant clompy boots that are a size too large and make my socks shuffle down into the arches of my feet.
Sixthly, my skin is suffering. This may also be a symptom of pregnancy, but I’m kind of dry and itchy in patches, and my face has taken on a ghostly cast. Deathly white is my normal winter skin tone, but I really look forward to lazing around at the lake, tanning my big oiled-up belly, getting some rays on my face and looking healthy once again. I also look forward to floating around on my air mattress and being pulled up the hill by some kind of elaborate harness-and-pulley system that I haven’t yet dreamed up, but may require. Our land is kind of steep. Anyway, once the sun hits my skin I will come alive once again and I will stop scratching at my hips and the sides of my tummy.
Seventhly, winter food is dull, man. I went to the grocery store the other day and was trying to pick out fruits and veggies and was totally uninspired. Everything comes from Mexico or Peru or other warm and distant climes. I was handling a mango and realized that only one side is red, the rest is green, likely because that’s how they were packed when picked under-ripe and only the exposed side went red. That’s depressing. Also, I keep checking out the strawberries but they’re $5 a box and probably anemic looking/tasting. I kind of wish I was eating ice cream a lot of the time but who eats ice cream in the cold? In early winter I was all into squash and heavy pastas and carby deliciousness but lately I find it hard to get all the veggies into my system that it requires. I’ve been drinking lots of natural-type fruit juices to make up for it. I saw a picture of BBQ-grilled vegetables the other day in a magazine and it very nearly made me drool.
Eighthly, my house is cold. Enough said. I’m tired of wearing layers indoors. The other day found me all confused, wearing olive-green fleece leggings, a black-and grey striped long-sleeved t-shirt, a bright fuchsia fleece sweater, and those Ugg-type slipper boots. I was a vision. My kingdom to be able to wander around in a tank top. My next house is definitely going to have radiant floor heating, because all of the houses I’ve visited with that system are over-warm, and that sounds pretty good in Forevuary.
So boo-hoo hoo eh? I thought I might stop complaining, since life’s been pretty good these days, but it seems I can always find something to whine about. It’s not all doom and gloom though: pretty soon I will get the grow-op up and running once again, and start all the plants that will go in with good intentions in May and June and be completely wild and ignored by August, when my mind will be elsewhere. I promise to keep the veggie garden to a dull roar this year. The aforementioned outdoor light change will start to warm up the air, so that come March, I’ll hopefully be able to drag out some lawn chairs and sit in the wind-free area of my deck in the sun on a Saturday afternoon, reading a book or something, NOT drinking a glass of wine. Pretty soon my belly will pop out a bit, and I look forward to an ultrasound in late March which will show us our little one and turn up some fetal genitals of one sort or the other. Our new pick-up truck is up and running, having gone through the safety check process and come out the other side, (with us $1,700 poorer). I look forward to driving that sweet truck up to the land some weekend in late March and checking out my brother-in-law’s cottage, which has been worked-on steadily throughout this winter, and seeing if our trailer’s still standing under the snow. Several of my loved ones are expecting babies, so to Leslie, Peggy, Kris and all you other growing bellies, I can’t wait to meet your new little ones in the coming weeks and months. I will start shopping in March or April, getting my ducklings in line so that I won’t be waddling around the malls in August all large and resentful. All in all, life is good.
If only I could just put Forevuary behind me!
There are reasons for the neverending winter this year: one, I am pregnant. I am thrilled to bits about this and really enjoying it, feeling great, etc. but I have to say, the only things that get me through winter are skiing and other pursuits like toboganning, drinking, etc., and I can’t do any of them. I can’t do anything that involves speed and I have to watch myself on the ice. Something about my increased rate of oxygen exchange added to my perennial asthma yadda yadda makes breathing kind of an issue these days, so even walking the dog is an effort. Also, winter = a nice fire + red wine and that last one’s off the table, so I’ve tackled this Forevuary stone sober and breathless.
Secondly, it’s been pretty darn cold. This week’s not so bad but a couple of weekends ago when it was minus 30 and windy, I felt like the winter might never end. Poor hubby went on a ski vacation that weekend and his skin is still peeling off of his face. Change is in the air, however – something about the light this past few days has indicated that spring might be on its way, the temperatures have gone a bit more moderate, and no new snow has fallen, which makes me hopeful that winter will go out with a whimper.
Thirdly, I’m pregnant. And early-type pregnant, like I’m now 13 ½ weeks, and every day is being counted. As prisoners and kids waiting for Christmas know, counting the days makes them go more slowly, like watching the proverbial pot of water come to a boil. So today I am 13weeks 4days pregnant, tomorrow I will be 13weeks 5days pregnant, etc. etc and man, February is only 28 days but that is long. I hope that time will go more quickly once I start to grow, and start feeling kicks and stuff. Once I allow myself to start shopping for this baby (furniture, stroller, car seat etc.) it will go a bit faster, make it seem a bit more real.
Fourthly, I love to knit, but I’m working on a never-ending knitting project that’s got the whole system slowed down. There are three or four projects on deck, but I can’t start them until this one’s completed. It’s the second half of a Christmas gift, so it’s already tardy (sorry Kelly!), and it’s just taking me ages to get through it. Once I move on to baby stuff (a hat for a newborn, little sweaters for fall, perhaps a cheery blanket) things will click along again and I’ll get my mojo back. Just no cables for awhile, ’kay? I’m all cabled out.
Fifthly, I am officially sick of my winter clothes. I bought some new maternity clothes to get me over this little hump (in reality, I don’t really need them, but dayum maternity pants are COMFY. Why didn’t I know this before?) but in general the wardrobe is pretty limited and drab. I look forward to wearing lots of dresses (with no pantyhose), sandals, nice t-shirts, and not having to top it all with an unflattering puffy coat that’s getting tight in the belly. I look forward to walking the dog in my hiking shoes that lace up and fit me correctly, instead of my giant clompy boots that are a size too large and make my socks shuffle down into the arches of my feet.
Sixthly, my skin is suffering. This may also be a symptom of pregnancy, but I’m kind of dry and itchy in patches, and my face has taken on a ghostly cast. Deathly white is my normal winter skin tone, but I really look forward to lazing around at the lake, tanning my big oiled-up belly, getting some rays on my face and looking healthy once again. I also look forward to floating around on my air mattress and being pulled up the hill by some kind of elaborate harness-and-pulley system that I haven’t yet dreamed up, but may require. Our land is kind of steep. Anyway, once the sun hits my skin I will come alive once again and I will stop scratching at my hips and the sides of my tummy.
Seventhly, winter food is dull, man. I went to the grocery store the other day and was trying to pick out fruits and veggies and was totally uninspired. Everything comes from Mexico or Peru or other warm and distant climes. I was handling a mango and realized that only one side is red, the rest is green, likely because that’s how they were packed when picked under-ripe and only the exposed side went red. That’s depressing. Also, I keep checking out the strawberries but they’re $5 a box and probably anemic looking/tasting. I kind of wish I was eating ice cream a lot of the time but who eats ice cream in the cold? In early winter I was all into squash and heavy pastas and carby deliciousness but lately I find it hard to get all the veggies into my system that it requires. I’ve been drinking lots of natural-type fruit juices to make up for it. I saw a picture of BBQ-grilled vegetables the other day in a magazine and it very nearly made me drool.
Eighthly, my house is cold. Enough said. I’m tired of wearing layers indoors. The other day found me all confused, wearing olive-green fleece leggings, a black-and grey striped long-sleeved t-shirt, a bright fuchsia fleece sweater, and those Ugg-type slipper boots. I was a vision. My kingdom to be able to wander around in a tank top. My next house is definitely going to have radiant floor heating, because all of the houses I’ve visited with that system are over-warm, and that sounds pretty good in Forevuary.
So boo-hoo hoo eh? I thought I might stop complaining, since life’s been pretty good these days, but it seems I can always find something to whine about. It’s not all doom and gloom though: pretty soon I will get the grow-op up and running once again, and start all the plants that will go in with good intentions in May and June and be completely wild and ignored by August, when my mind will be elsewhere. I promise to keep the veggie garden to a dull roar this year. The aforementioned outdoor light change will start to warm up the air, so that come March, I’ll hopefully be able to drag out some lawn chairs and sit in the wind-free area of my deck in the sun on a Saturday afternoon, reading a book or something, NOT drinking a glass of wine. Pretty soon my belly will pop out a bit, and I look forward to an ultrasound in late March which will show us our little one and turn up some fetal genitals of one sort or the other. Our new pick-up truck is up and running, having gone through the safety check process and come out the other side, (with us $1,700 poorer). I look forward to driving that sweet truck up to the land some weekend in late March and checking out my brother-in-law’s cottage, which has been worked-on steadily throughout this winter, and seeing if our trailer’s still standing under the snow. Several of my loved ones are expecting babies, so to Leslie, Peggy, Kris and all you other growing bellies, I can’t wait to meet your new little ones in the coming weeks and months. I will start shopping in March or April, getting my ducklings in line so that I won’t be waddling around the malls in August all large and resentful. All in all, life is good.
If only I could just put Forevuary behind me!
2/1/10
Lucky Number Three
December 5th 2009 was the one-year anniversary of my dear Loki’s disappearance.
It was also the day that I found out that I am pregnant.
What a whirlwind. I’m only now able to talk about it, since I’m never sure who reads these things and I didn’t want work to know before everything was absolutely affirmative (i.e. nearish the end of the first trimester), but yeah, the third IUI worked. No need for the big nasty IVF.
I did a pee-on-a-stick test the morning of December 4th. You’d think I’d know better after four years but apparently old habits die hard, because I knew I was 13 or 14 days past ovulation, and I just happened to have a test kicking around. I groggily did the deed when I got up in the morning, before walking the dog and waking up hubby, and voilà – a faint pink line appeared for the first time in my life. My reaction was funny. I kind of went “huh, whaddya know” and went out to walk the dog. When hubby got up I said “hey check this out” and he was cautiously optimistic as well. Both sort of stunned, we went to work, I thought about it in moderation throughout the day, but was kind of in a daze. On the way home I went out and bought another test, a different high-quality brand.
The next morning (Saturday), I peed on it, and the line was darker. Glory be. Angels sang, and maybe there was a rainbow over my house or unicorns or something. My mom came over for coffee and could tell that I was mucho distracted, so I slapped the test down on the table between us (I had wiped all the pee off of it first, duh) and we were all a bit incredulous, teary-eyed, in disbelief.
Then Monday I was starting a week-long high-stakes meeting at work, but first, I had a blood test at the fertility clinic – a quick in and out. I got a call at lunchtime with good news: it was positive, the hcg levels were good, and I was set to come back Dec. 21st for an ultrasound and meeting with the doctor. Needless to say, it was tough to concentrate on the meeting for the rest of that afternoon – nay – that week.
We went to San Francisco in between. You can see why I wasn’t blown away by our trip, as I was sort of preoccupied, and was a bit tired and crabby and concerned throughout. Also I wasn’t able to drink which kind of sucked but really, I didn’t miss it. Flying made me nervous (nervous that my nervousness would affect things) but we got through it just fine.
December 21st we went in to the clinic, had an ultrasound, and saw the little bean and its nice, strong heartbeat. It was the size of a grain of rice – 3.7 mm. The doctor and ultrasound technician both said that we are ‘textbook,’ to enjoy my ‘good, strong pregnancy’ and to send him pictures after the big day. Doc then told me what not to eat and sent us packing – we graduated from the clinic, a day I had never really envisioned.
Christmas was a hoot. Again, it passed in a blur because I was so distracted, and on the 28th I started with the symptoms – feeling gross, super tired, and I couldn’t look at coffee. I had those for about 5 days, until I went back to work, and then they lessened a bit, which freaked me out completely. Word to the pregnant and wise: stay off the internet when you’re newly pregnant and paranoid by nature; my doctor calls it ‘googlitis’. I still am turned off of coffee, and am really into potatoes, oatmeal, rice, pita bread and other starchy things. Grapefruits are excellent, as are pomegranates, olives, pickles, and avocados. I drink tea in the mornings now, which is fine, and treat myself with yoghurt or milk chocolate – dark no longer appeals to me. I am tired a lot, and am having a hard time doing my job effectively. I have headaches, but I always had headaches so I can’t really tell if they’re pregnancy-related. Aside from these things I feel fine. Easy.
I read somewhere that some food aversions and nausea are caused by smells, because apparently pregnant ladies have an increased sense of smell. This doesn’t really apply to me, since my nose is always stuffy and I have a terrible sense of smell anyway, so perhaps it’s the reason for my lack of nausea so far.
By mid-January I needed to invest in some stretchy clothes with forgiving waistbands, because sitting all day in dress pants or pantyhose was killing me. It was kind of making me have indigestion. The pantyhose almost made me throw up and I had to cut a big slit down the front of them halfway through the day. I wore a lot of stretchy blousy things to work so for all of you who thought I was being kind of a slob, now you know why. If you were also wondering why I’ve adopted a bit of a waddle in the last couple of weeks, your questions have now been answered. Pregnancy seems to make my hip problem much much worse, so now when I get up from a seated position, I have to take a moment to adjust, and I limp a bit.
I have started planning what we’re going to do with the house. The t.v. will have to move to the living room (yuck) because the current t.v. room will be the kid’s room. For the first while, baby will live in our room upstairs, so I can get up in the middle of the night and not have to negotiate stairs. Guests are just going to have to put up with the nursery-like décor, because the guest room and baby room will be one and the same. Rosie’s going to have to learn some boundaries when it comes to toys and jumping on people, and she will perhaps have to be restrained by a seatbelt while riding in the back of the car.
Speaking of cars, we bought a truck, which will be my maternity-leave vehicle. It’s a 2001 Dodge Dakota king cab, so it has a full back seat (very comfy) and is nice and clean inside. Lots of room for baby and dog. It’s not too high and not too low, so I won’t have to lift the baby up or bend down to put it in the carseat; this truck is perfect for my height. I already have my eye on a nice red stroller/carseat combo, and have started to acquire gender-neutral baby gear as well. Friends have all been very generous so my baby-stuff Rubbermaid is filling up nicely. Pretty soon we’ll have to start moving furniture around and filling up dressers.
We spent so much of our time and energy thinking about conception that we never really allowed ourselves to consider it actually happening, and what comes next. It all feels very surreal.
Anyway, I am now sitting at just over 12 weeks pregnant. My boss knows and was amazing about it. My belly has started to pooch out a bit so soon everyone will guess. I heard the little watery bah-boom bah-boom bah-boom heartbeat last week, so everything is just clicking right along.
Phew.
It was also the day that I found out that I am pregnant.
What a whirlwind. I’m only now able to talk about it, since I’m never sure who reads these things and I didn’t want work to know before everything was absolutely affirmative (i.e. nearish the end of the first trimester), but yeah, the third IUI worked. No need for the big nasty IVF.
I did a pee-on-a-stick test the morning of December 4th. You’d think I’d know better after four years but apparently old habits die hard, because I knew I was 13 or 14 days past ovulation, and I just happened to have a test kicking around. I groggily did the deed when I got up in the morning, before walking the dog and waking up hubby, and voilà – a faint pink line appeared for the first time in my life. My reaction was funny. I kind of went “huh, whaddya know” and went out to walk the dog. When hubby got up I said “hey check this out” and he was cautiously optimistic as well. Both sort of stunned, we went to work, I thought about it in moderation throughout the day, but was kind of in a daze. On the way home I went out and bought another test, a different high-quality brand.
The next morning (Saturday), I peed on it, and the line was darker. Glory be. Angels sang, and maybe there was a rainbow over my house or unicorns or something. My mom came over for coffee and could tell that I was mucho distracted, so I slapped the test down on the table between us (I had wiped all the pee off of it first, duh) and we were all a bit incredulous, teary-eyed, in disbelief.
Then Monday I was starting a week-long high-stakes meeting at work, but first, I had a blood test at the fertility clinic – a quick in and out. I got a call at lunchtime with good news: it was positive, the hcg levels were good, and I was set to come back Dec. 21st for an ultrasound and meeting with the doctor. Needless to say, it was tough to concentrate on the meeting for the rest of that afternoon – nay – that week.
We went to San Francisco in between. You can see why I wasn’t blown away by our trip, as I was sort of preoccupied, and was a bit tired and crabby and concerned throughout. Also I wasn’t able to drink which kind of sucked but really, I didn’t miss it. Flying made me nervous (nervous that my nervousness would affect things) but we got through it just fine.
December 21st we went in to the clinic, had an ultrasound, and saw the little bean and its nice, strong heartbeat. It was the size of a grain of rice – 3.7 mm. The doctor and ultrasound technician both said that we are ‘textbook,’ to enjoy my ‘good, strong pregnancy’ and to send him pictures after the big day. Doc then told me what not to eat and sent us packing – we graduated from the clinic, a day I had never really envisioned.
Christmas was a hoot. Again, it passed in a blur because I was so distracted, and on the 28th I started with the symptoms – feeling gross, super tired, and I couldn’t look at coffee. I had those for about 5 days, until I went back to work, and then they lessened a bit, which freaked me out completely. Word to the pregnant and wise: stay off the internet when you’re newly pregnant and paranoid by nature; my doctor calls it ‘googlitis’. I still am turned off of coffee, and am really into potatoes, oatmeal, rice, pita bread and other starchy things. Grapefruits are excellent, as are pomegranates, olives, pickles, and avocados. I drink tea in the mornings now, which is fine, and treat myself with yoghurt or milk chocolate – dark no longer appeals to me. I am tired a lot, and am having a hard time doing my job effectively. I have headaches, but I always had headaches so I can’t really tell if they’re pregnancy-related. Aside from these things I feel fine. Easy.
I read somewhere that some food aversions and nausea are caused by smells, because apparently pregnant ladies have an increased sense of smell. This doesn’t really apply to me, since my nose is always stuffy and I have a terrible sense of smell anyway, so perhaps it’s the reason for my lack of nausea so far.
By mid-January I needed to invest in some stretchy clothes with forgiving waistbands, because sitting all day in dress pants or pantyhose was killing me. It was kind of making me have indigestion. The pantyhose almost made me throw up and I had to cut a big slit down the front of them halfway through the day. I wore a lot of stretchy blousy things to work so for all of you who thought I was being kind of a slob, now you know why. If you were also wondering why I’ve adopted a bit of a waddle in the last couple of weeks, your questions have now been answered. Pregnancy seems to make my hip problem much much worse, so now when I get up from a seated position, I have to take a moment to adjust, and I limp a bit.
I have started planning what we’re going to do with the house. The t.v. will have to move to the living room (yuck) because the current t.v. room will be the kid’s room. For the first while, baby will live in our room upstairs, so I can get up in the middle of the night and not have to negotiate stairs. Guests are just going to have to put up with the nursery-like décor, because the guest room and baby room will be one and the same. Rosie’s going to have to learn some boundaries when it comes to toys and jumping on people, and she will perhaps have to be restrained by a seatbelt while riding in the back of the car.
Speaking of cars, we bought a truck, which will be my maternity-leave vehicle. It’s a 2001 Dodge Dakota king cab, so it has a full back seat (very comfy) and is nice and clean inside. Lots of room for baby and dog. It’s not too high and not too low, so I won’t have to lift the baby up or bend down to put it in the carseat; this truck is perfect for my height. I already have my eye on a nice red stroller/carseat combo, and have started to acquire gender-neutral baby gear as well. Friends have all been very generous so my baby-stuff Rubbermaid is filling up nicely. Pretty soon we’ll have to start moving furniture around and filling up dressers.
We spent so much of our time and energy thinking about conception that we never really allowed ourselves to consider it actually happening, and what comes next. It all feels very surreal.
Anyway, I am now sitting at just over 12 weeks pregnant. My boss knows and was amazing about it. My belly has started to pooch out a bit so soon everyone will guess. I heard the little watery bah-boom bah-boom bah-boom heartbeat last week, so everything is just clicking right along.
Phew.
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