Cloth Diapers INDEED!

Just an update on how the CD diaper stock-up is going. We have 20 Kissaluvs size 0 for the newborn stage. Only 2 of which I bought brand spankin' new...the rest came from either Craigslist or women from The Bump. AND I have two one-size diapers. Oh, and a few cloth wipes that someone threw in for free:o)

I LOVE SAVING $$$$

Super Excited!

UNC Hospital called me today to set up our BIG ultrasound appointment (ie: finding out the sex!!!). Sept 9 - 2 weeks from tomorrow!!!! OMG! ALREADY?! It seemed like forever until I'd get to our baby again and find out if it's a boy or a girl. And now, in 2 weeks, I'll be 18 weeks preggo. And two weeks after that I'll be 20 weeks...HALF WAY THERE!

It's crazy!

Meanwhile...the past two days I've felt weird, low pressure. Probably just gas? Oh and I think I got heartburn for the first time in my LIFE last night. Shawn made an awesome dinner last night that gave me heartburn, which I've never had in my life before, and sheesh it was uncomfortable! It's amazing all these new and weird feelings I'm going through. Thank you pregnancy for introducing such awesome things in my life:oP

Gender Predictions (Take 2)

With some new updates - some new opinions. Let's check it out

So, let's take a look at all the old wives tales and see what gender our baby is going to be:

Chinese Gender Chart (http://www.babygenderprediction.com/chinese-gender-chart.html)
- Conception Month - May, Conception Age - 24 = GIRL

Carrying High vs Low
- It's hard to tell now, but when the midwife was checking me on my last visit she said she could feel my uterus popping "here" and "here" was pretty low = BOY
- Update 8/21 - I still feel like I'm carrying low when my belly is all puffed out = BOY

Heartbeat 140+ is girl, 140- is boy
- on June 25 hb = 156bpm = GIRL
- on July 28 hb = 140bpm = neutral?
- Update 8/21 hp = 150sbpm = GIRL

Cravings: sweet is girl, sour is boy
- neither, i actually crave crunchy stuff
- Update 8/21 - I've actually been craving things like ice cream, milkshakes and chocolate cake = GIRL

Husband putting on weight with you?
- highly doubtful = BOY

I STILL refuse to do the Drano/Urine test...gross. I STILL haven't done the ring/pendant motion test. And I'm STILL not telling which boob is bigger:oP

People Opinions:

Aunt Becky - Boy
Aunt Jessi - Boy
Aunt Tara - Girl
Me - Boy
Mom & Grandma's intution from beyond - Girl (lol!)
Lana - Girl

So it seems really up in the air right now. Your thoughts?!

Baby...STAY!

Today was our second appointment at the birth center. We saw a different midwife, we'll call her "A" and she was AWESOME! She's older, so I was a little worried she wouldn't be "cool" and I was totally wrong. She commented on my diet - I need more fruits and veggies - knew that was coming! She asked if I could feel any movement, which I can't yet. My files from the hospital visit in NJ had been transferred, so we went over that in some detail, but she wasn't concerned since I haven't had any dizzy spells or spotting since. She also enjoyed Shawn's humor and seemed very receptive to his questions and thoughts on certain things, which makes us both feel like he's really being a part of this and not just an outsider. She's not worried about me traveling for Thanksgiving AND Christmas (more to come on this later).

And then we got down to the fun stuff - the dopplar! When I laid down she was on my left side and she put the dopplar across from her on my right side and at first I heard nothing. I had about 3 seconds of panic! I know sometimes it can take a few seconds, but last time it was RIGHT ON, so there was no wait. She moved the dopplar closer to her on my left side and there it was! BUT, when she tried to time it, it got quieter and all of a sudden we heard a "whoosh" and she said "well, there's some movement!" And then she traced the dopplar ALL THE WAY back over to my right side where we found a very strong heartbeat she was able to time.

Apparently our baby wanted to kick at the dopplar and run away...all the way across to the other side! Heartbeat was in the 150s, which is awesome! So much movement made me happy - and "A" said that she finds the babies that move away from the dopplar are often boys - which made Shawn very happy.

Our next appt is Sept 14. And the UNC hospital should be calling us soon to set up our big u/s in a few weeks! YAY!

Pregnancy & School

Today I started classes again. This semester is full - 4 history courses!!! Meanwhile I'm also taking on a full bowling league, work as usual, and of course I'll only be getting more preggo as time goes on. But as my best friend says, I'm a tough cookie.

Anywho, while sitting in class today I got the grumblies in my belly and before class started I grabbed a Twix bar from the vending machine. But it got me thinking about things (funny, I think) that I should be concerned about while being preggo and attending school:

1 - the sudden NEED food NOW! Luckily, there is a vending machine in the building where 3/4 of my classes are, but what if I don't think to grab something before class? Will I be disrupting my class with my loud belly roars?! Hehe.

2 - the sudden need to pee during class. How disruptive will I be if I need to get up? I hate that - it draws attention to yourself. Right now I usually have enough common sense to go before class, but I'm sure that the urge will come more often when I'm not expecting it as time goes on.

3 - by December will my belly still fit into these tiny chair/desks? Seriosuly - they're okay now. But how big will my belly get? What if it gets too big? That would present quite the problem.

I'm sure more of these fun thoughts will appear in the coming months. For now...I'm off to do more homework.

Maternity Clothing Vent

Oh yea...I'm venting this early. I was walking through Sears and saw this really cute short sleeved maternity shirt for only $4.99. Size SMALL. And it looked like I could swim in it. Meanwhile, more and more of my shirts that used to hang loose have a little belly poking through.

Also, I used to be a Juniors size 9 in pants/jeans. No longer. My 11s, which used to be HUGE, are now growing to fit just right. My awesome boss gave me some of her women's size 10 jeans, which obviously fit different than juniors clothing, but even those are getting...snug. They won't last more than a few more weeks, I'm sure. But I look at maternity pants, size SMALL, and they look huge!

Am I supposed to wait until I have this huge belly to go out and get maternity clothes? What am I supposed to do in the meantime - go out and get a whole new wardrobe to fit the "not quite maternity size" yet?! It's ridiculous.

There should be maternity clothes in time specified ranges, like "early pregnancy, when you're only showing a little" "middle pregnancy - when you've got that belly" and "almost to the end pregnancy - so your belly isn't hanging out under your shirt" like i see SO many 8 or 9 month women having to deal with!

Pardon me, while I go through my clothes today and realize that my belly will be poking through the rest of my shirts until I have a bump big enough to fit a SMALL maternity shirt.

The MUCH awaited blob pics! 14wks and counting...

I'm just doing this to test out my new webcam that is a part of my new laptop:o/

The usual side view....hot, right?! My ass is getting huge, too. BUT, I will remind you all that I have gained ONLY a pound or two:oP

And an awesome front view, too! Consider yourself spoiled! I know you're diggin on the shirt, right?!

Why, HELLO there energy!

So, in the middle of the day yesterday I realized that, "Hey, I don't feel like I need a nap!" It was a weird moment of realization. And last night I was BUSY! When I got home I: made dinner, actually took the time to send out an important e-mail, worked on setting up the bowling spreadsheet for a league that doesn't start for another 4 or 5 weeks, went to the store to pick up some items, took a nice hot long shower, and did laundry.

I didn't go to bed until 11pm!!! And it wasn't even like I was exhausted. So, apparently, while it's not a burst of energy, I DEFINITELY have more stamina - despite not sleeping well. This makes me happy:o)

Baby Brain

It's absolutely true. Some women just get freakin stupid when they become pregnant - and I'm one of those women!



Up until now, I think the dumbest thing I've done is turn the kitchen faucet on to soak a pan, walk into the bedroom, get caught up in a tv show and have Shawn ask me, "Why is the faucet running?" like 5 minutes later. It's actually happened twice.

Today TOTALLY tops that! About 10-20 minutes after I got home from work our neighbor comes by the fence and is giving us a funny look. So I go out to talk to him and he asks, "Why is your car running?"

GENIUS!

Breastfeeding & Cancer

Good news!

http://www.newsobserver.com/news/health_science/story/1642292.html

Officially Second Trimester!

Today I am 14 weeks along, officially out of that first trimester ickiness! And ::poof:: the magic abundance of energy comes back...right? Tomorrow? Maybe? No? We'll see:o(

I am feeling ok and trying to eat healthy and stay fit, but let's face it - I'm a lazy woman. I have been in the pool twice this week and while watching mucnhkins be crazy I've sat in the shallow end and did some stretching...now if only I can remember to do it during the day!

My best friend is totally awesome - in a manner of days she's introduced me to two awesome websites. Buybuybaby.com, which is an affiliate of Bedbathandbeyond...which means I get to use the hundreds of coupons I've been savingup. And the other website is theburthsurvey.com. Basically a site where you can review your birth center, hospital, doctor, midwife, etc. My birth center has awesome ratings, for the most part, AND when I looked up midwives in my area (I don't know all the midwives names at my center), ANY midwife that had the same address as my birth center came up with 4 stars or more on a 5 star-rating system. That's GREAT news!

What else? Paperwork for baby finances is completely taken care of, which is a huge relief. I'm in the process of cutting some deals with women from my local Bump board and Craigslist on cloth diapers - I'm trying to stock up by the end of this month to get that taken care of.

Oh, and I feel fat. Yea, sure, I'll post a pic this week to show you. I feel blobby. No real belly action going on - just blob.

And NEXT Friday is our next appt at the birth center - YAY!

Weird Dream - short

Two nights ago I had a really weird/bad dream. I was playing with a baby - at least a few months old, I'd say between 3-6mos. (Note: what's funny is that I can't remember if it was a boy or girl, lol!) Anyway, I'm happy and we're playing and perfectly fine. And this baby is mine, as far as I'm concerned. And there were other people in the room - Shawn, for sure, but who else I can't recall. All of a sudden...I realize that I CANNOT remember labor. I can't remember HAVING this baby. I FREAKED OUT!!!!!!!! I knew I had been pregnant, but I couldn't remember having teh HUGE belly at the end of a pregnancy, I couldn't remember my water breaking, or having contractions, or going to the birth center or a hospital...I couldn't remember the child coming out of my vagina! NOTHING. I was like, WTF is going on?! I couldn't even remember watching the child grow up the past few months - I remember nothing from before the time I was just sitting there playing with this baby.

I started questioning - did I have this baby? Is it really mine? What happened to my belly and my labor? Did I lose my baby? Whose baby is this?

Then I woke up. Freaky.

Produce Health

Article from Baby Guide 2009 that I received from the Birth Center.

Produce Highest in pesticide residue:
- Peaches
- Apples
- Sweet Bell Peppers
- Celery
- Nectarines
- Strawberries
- Cherries
- Lettuce
- Grapes (imported)
- Pears
- Spinach
- Potatoes

So...that's just about everything I really enjoy eating when it comes to produce. Awesome.

Produce Lowest in pesticide residue:
- Onions
- Avocados
- Sweet corn (frozen)
- Pineapples
- Mangoes
- Sweet peas (frozen)
- Asparagus
- Kiwi
- Bananas
- Cabbage
- Broccoli
- Eggplant

Gender Predictions

So, let's take a look at all the old wives tales and see what gender our baby is going to be:

Chinese Gender Chart (http://www.babygenderprediction.com/chinese-gender-chart.html)
- Conception Month - May, Conception Age - 24 = GIRL

Carrying High vs Low
- It's hard to tell now, but when the midwife was checking me on my last visit she said she could feel my uterus popping "here" and "here" was pretty low = BOY

Heartbeat 140+ is girl, 140- is boy
- on June 25 hb = 156bpm = GIRL
- on July 28 hb = 140bpm = neutral?

Cravings: sweet is girl, sour is boy
- neither, i actually crave crunchy stuff

Husband putting on weight with you?
- highly doubtful = BOY

I refuse to do the Drano/Urine test...gross. I haven't done the ring/pendant motion test. And I'm not telling which boob is bigger:oP

So it seems really up in the air right now. Your thoughts?!