and now we wait

Well, the waiting stage has officially begun. I have hit the date at which I need to start burning through vacation time at the office, so I'm officially off work. I have only taken 5.5 vacation days so far this year, so you can imagine it's been a while since I really had some time for relaxing. I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to do with myself.

Today, at least, I have the distraction of house cleaners being here. Yes, many of you with kids are probably laughing, since most of you got a huge burst of energy and cleaned your OWN houses. Thankfully for my husband and the pending bundle of joy and messiness, I know my limits. I imagine that even with the tremendous burst of energy I have today, I wouldn't come anywhere close to the ability level of the Molly Maids, so, here they are. Apparently it does really take over 1/2 hour to do a REALLY thorough job in the glorified powder room we call a bathroom. Who knew?

I will probably use my new found energy to bake some cookies to take to the hospital for after the baby is born. Although, fruit is still higher up on the craving list than baked goods. I had hoped that the craving would pass after a few weeks without any, but alas, as I was adding a few grapes to my chicken salad, I realized that no, in fact, it is STILL all I want. I had to stop myself before consuming the whole bag and completely spiking my blood sugar. I think we will be pre-washing the rest of the grapes to go to the hospital with us.

Speaking of which, knock on wood, we will be inducing on Thursday if we haven't had the baby by then. I think my doctors have decided to take pity on me, as we've had a few false alarms over the past two weeks. Apparently I'm one of the lucky women who feel all of the warm up contractions - isn't that special? But, that is all contingent on space availability at the hospital. Of course, everyone tells me that once you have an inducement date on the calendar, you almost always have the baby before that date. But, I am definitely starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, and am totally ok if I have to hold out until Thursday. Wish us luck.

3 more weeks!

Things I have learned this week:
1. When the baby starts to drop, and moves off your stomach, all of a sudden, the diabetic diet just isn't quite enough food. And you're hungry...all...the...time. Is this what it is like to be a hungry pregnant woman?
2. One day, you feel like you have the work transition under control, and the next, you realize it's just not possible to get it all done.
3. Not everyone enjoys the internal furnace. Even when you want it to happen so you can survive 46 degree weather without buying a maternity coat.

Today's visit to the OB may be the last time we get an estimate weight before delivery. They only estimate weight every 3 weeks, so, in theory, the next wouldn't be until 39 1/2 weeks, and we can always hope our little guy will have already arrived. As of today, they estimate the baby's weight to be 6lbs even (and they generally say that the ultrasounds are +-1 pound accurate). So, still around the 30th percentile in weight, so that is a good sign!

5 weeks to go!

One of our most recent doctor appointments included a growth check session, which means they use measurements during the ultrasound to estimate the weight of the baby. Somehow, in the miracle of miracles, it is possible that we might have a Presto-sized baby in there, and not a Deal-sized baby. I’m sure that the weight estimates are not the most accurate, but as of this week, the baby is weighing in at a nice 4lbs 7oz, which puts us in the 27th percentile! Yes, you heard it, the 27th percentile. Not that this is a guarantee of a smaller baby, but it is great news for this lady, who is hoping growth continues at this pace. They only check for growth every three weeks, so it will be around the 15th of October when we get another weight estimate.

Thus far, all appears well with baby Deal. Amniotic fluid has been normal levels since about week two of treating the gestational diabetes and the weekly ultrasounds have all been normal to-date. Last week started weekly visits with BOTH doctors. Since I am on the diabetes medicine, my normal OB/GYN wants to begin fetal monitoring this week.

We finished our childbirth classes on Thursday. It is a nice relief to be done with the evening classes, as we now have some time to catch up with friends before the baby joins us. Some of the classes were better than others, but we definitely made a good list of questions to ask our doctor about our labor and delivery.

This picture was taken around 33 weeks. I’m very happy to say that these are the SAME jeans I bought when I bought my very first maternity clothes! It’s gotten colder here, so I’m happy I did actually cave and bought some maternity sweatshirts – I definitely need them!



We are debating whether or not we will be taking the laptop to the hospital to be able to post a blog entry after the delivery. Our hospital only has wi-fi in the cafeteria, not in the rooms. So, we may not be able to post something on the blog until after we get home. But, definitely check facebook, since Robert will at least have his iPod, which will allow us to post an announcement online.

Every Cloud Has a Silver Lining

Two weeks after being diagnosed with gestational diabetes, I'm finding that there is one very exciting BENEFIT to becoming a high risk pregnancy. When they monitor you once a week for tedious things like amniotic fluid levels, etc, you also get the benefit of the weekly ultrasound. Our little cashew continues to hide his face with his arms and hands all the time, but occassionally we get a glimpse of his face. Today, I got to see the little guy yawn for the first time. And, yes, that was cool. I find myself becoming one of those people who gets all gooey over the ultrasound tests.

And, yes, for those of you who are wondering how confident we are that we are having a little baby boy deal, the more recent ultrasounds have shown in much better detail that he is, in fact, a boy. In fact, the ultrasound technician got such a good shot she actually sent us home with a picture and the "boy" label. I'll spare everyone the first nudie picture, and just be happy to say that the cute football clothes we have received are definitely the right gender.

Modern technology is amazing, though. I have found that when you really have a sweet craving, sugar free candy isn't all that bad. Some, however, is better than others. For example, sugar free chocolate malt balls are pretty close to the real thing. Sugar free caramal peanut clusters, however, should never have been made. And, thankfully, Edy's/Dreyers has a new line of low fat, churned sugar free ice cream that is pretty darn good AND counts as a milk serving. And, thanks to my previous cooking habits, I find that our lunches and dinners haven't changed that much since cooking for the diet. Yes, there are some things that are out of the picture (pizza, takeout Chinese, etc), but for the most part, I'm able to cook most things just as before. 2 weeks down, 8 to go!

2 down, 288 to go

OK, so, maybe pricking my finger for blood sugar monitoring was not as bad as I feared. I'm sure I will continue to have a little hesitation, but it will definitely be managable. I have concluded, however, that the nutritionist is a little crazy. I received the meal plan today, and there is NO way I can consume the amount of food they prescribe in one day. First, in order to have the required servings of milk they want you to have when you are pregnant, I have to have it with lunch or dinner. But, here's my challenge, a glass of milk fills me up, almost like a full meal. So, if I drink the milk, I'm almost full by the time I'm only partway through dinner! Same thing with fruit.

The good news is that my numbers are looking good with the diet thus far, so I'm hopeful that this will be easy to keep in check. Then, I'll only have to worry about a large baby because it runs in Robert's family!

The Newest Challenge

Well, I believe my horrific fear of needles is going to go away over the course of the next few weeks. I found out today that I have gestational diabetes, so for the remainder of the pregnancy, I will have the joy of daily blood tests. Although, I hear that now they make kits where you can at least test other parts of the body, and avoid the fingers which are used all day to type.

So, now I have to learn how much of the food that I enjoy cooking will be off limits to me for the next 11 weeks. I am somewhat intrigued by the ability to monitor my own readings, it's like a little science experiment. I guess if I can find something interesting about this situation, it's probably a good thing.

I'll go see the high risk maternal doctor on Thursday, where I will see a dietician and get the "official" rules. I imagine this will also mean more regular sonograms through the rest of the pregnancy in order to track the baby's weight. Hopefully, though, it won't require too many extra doctor visits.

Anyhoo - that's the latest. I'm off to bed as it has been an exhausting day trying to take in all of this information. We'll keep you posted.

Kicking and Screaming Already

Well, I can't really verify the screaming, but there is plenty of kicking going on these days. We have started seeing the belly move when the kicking occurs, which is really kind of bizarre. And, after 28 weeks, I appear to have gotten my sweet tooth back. Things like cookies and brownies are starting to sound like a good idea again. Although, my cooking days may be numbered, or at least my chopping days. In the last week I've managed to cut three fingers, a nail, and burn myself. I think I have gotten to the clums(ier) stage of the pregnancy.

We are still working on coming up with a name for the little guy. And while we haven't agreed on a name yet, we have managed to whittle the list down to names we actually like, and not just a list of names we don't hate. This was a pretty big step for us. Boy names really are much harder than girls' names.

As many of you can probably imagine, I have already moved into full nesting mode, probably a little earlier than some soon-to-be moms. We have built the shelves in the room, and have moved ALMOST everything that is not baby related out of the room. This involved the fun task of going through the extra medicine cabinet. This was the cabinet full of items that we had duplicates when Robert moved in. Yes, I realize that was in 2007. I'm convinced he brought some of these items with him to DC when he moved from Arizona for law school, since some had expiration dates of 2002 and 2003. And while we probably had more time to accomplish the cleaning out of the room, I feel like at least one huge task has been completed.

I had my glucose screening test yesterday. For those of you who aren't familiar, it is a standard test that they give you to test for gestational diabetes. I was prepared for the glucose drink to taste bad, and to want to get it over with as soon as possible. What I wasn't prepared for was that it would make me nauseous. That combined with the car ride to the doctor's office made for a rocky day yesterday. Thankfully, I woke up feeling pretty good today.

That's about it for now. As of yesterday's visit I will now be going to the doctor every two weeks, which seems like a pretty big milestone to me. In two weeks, we begin the labor and delivery classes. I'm not entirely sure why it takes them 4 class sessions to teach you how to say "I want an epidural", but I'm sure there is more to it than that!

Developing musical taste

A week or so ago, we started actively making sure there was music on reguarly for the baby to hear. At first, we tried the method of placing headphones on my tummy, until some smart cookie told us that by this time, the baby is able to hear/respond to ambient music. So, we gave up the 10 minutes a night on the belly stuck sitting down very quickly. Now I try to make sure there is music on in the house at least an hour or two a day.

We started with classical, since it seemed to be the thing to do. Not much response there, and since I couldn't bring myself to buy any Baby Einstein tapes, I decided to try the Carlson Music Method. For those of you unfamiliar - it basically involves playing music you like until you find something the baby likes. To this day, my friend Kim's son Owen is still a Weezer fan.

So, I started with some classics from Robert's iTunes - since his computer is much easier to access during the workday. I did find that the baby seems to respond to some music more than others, or it's all a coincidence and he just happened to decide to kick at that moment. More onn active kicking later.

Cashew's Hit List

• The Beatles
• Eric Clapton
• The Black Crowes
• U2

We learned about his preference for U2 when we found Rattle and Hum playing on the HD music channel Palladium over the weekend. Of course, sadly only one of us in the family actually remembers being at Sun Devil Stadium for that show. Others of us had not develped musical taste by that year and were listening to that up and coming singer Vanilla Ice.

Aside from when we play music, our little guy seems to be most active at about 2am. I started waking Robert up for the strong kicking moments so that he can feel them too. He is definitely kicking hard enough now that anyone within a mile of my belly could feel him! If you lok at the right time you can even see belly movement. Of course, sometimes this makes for lack of sleep or uncomfortable days (like tonight).

66% of You Were Wrong

We went for another ultrasound yesterday, and after about 1/2 hour, the little guy moved around enough for us to get a much clearer peek. And even I believe we have enough evidence to confidently announce that it is a BOY. Which means, if anyone has any good ideas for boy names, please send them our way, since we really don't have one picked out yet.

This week has brought much more kicking. So, I guess what they say is true, boys are much more active even from the start.

The Furniture Has Arrived

When you first enter the room to the right, we decided the changing station belonged on this wall, since it is the most logical place if we decide to get the matching hutch. Also, this is where we will put the nightstand that we have now realized we need, since there is nothing next to the glider where you could put, I don't know, a lamp, a glass of water, anything else you might want while rocking the baby.

In the opposite corner by the closet lives the dresser. We think the small TV will go somewhere in this corner to give us something to watch during feedings, etc.

And finally, the crib will live in the corner by the window. For the most part, the room is setup. Of course, once you start putting together furniture, you realize all of the things you still need. Like a trash can. That's it for now, just wanted to get this up this morning. More to come later.

Inching towards wider than tall...

Many of you will notice a new poll on the blog. I figured at 6 months it was time to let everyone make a guess as to how close my height to width ratio is becoming! I even posted a new picture below to give you a few hints. And yes, this is the same shirt from the 12 week photos. Let’s see if it lasts the whole pregnancy. Ha ha.

I know it’s been a while since I posted, but the last few weeks have been relatively uneventful. Most days I feel pretty good, although, I still have some occassional bouts of nausea. We next go to the doctor on Monday, for the 24 week appointment, so hopefully we’ll have more information then.

I have definitely felt more kicking lately, but not predictable enough for Robert to know when to try to feel the belly as well. We're going to start playing music more consistently, in hopes we find something that the baby really likes. Any suggestions???

Carne Asade Meat Marinade

Well, I know this is supposed to be a blog about the baby, but this is slightly baby related. On Saturday, after one of the AZ baby showers, we bbq'd. This is the recipe I made to marinade flank steak for tacos. I figured that if I post the recipe, anyone who wants it can just come here -rather than me having to email!

Mojo Marinade
2 cups orange juice
1/2 cup lime juice
6 TB white vinegar
Handful cilantro - loosely hand chopped
4 TB chopped garlic
2 Seeded and sliced jalepenos
1/2 cup vegetable oil

Mix together ingredients in a bowl with a whisk. Makes enough marinade for 2 flank steaks. Marinade steak for anywhere between 1-6 hours. Grill steak until medium rare. Serve with taco fillings of your choice.

While I was off in Arizona sweating (110 is too hot to be pregnant), Robert was home working away in the nursery. Many of you have heard of the dreaded blue room. Everyone has one of these in their house, probably in a different color. It's the room where everything goes that doesn't fit into any other place in the house. Well, our blue room is no more, as Robert made it ready for the baby while I was in AZ. Thanks to the help of our friend Scott (and a few interns), they were able to take everything off to storage and empty the room for painting. The blue room is now a soothing yellow and green. I had many people ask to see the wonderful handiwork, so I'll keep the typing short, and get right to the pictures.

Also, miraculously, our glider and ottoman already came in - so it is the only thing setup in the room. But, I figure this corner gives a good feel for the color theme in the room.

For the first shower, we also received the hamper that matches our bedding. Since it was easy to take out of the box, we figured it would give a good feel for what the room will look like.

Aren't these blocks fun? My oldest (tenure, not age) friend Kim made these for me for my baby shower. She claims not to be crafty, but you can be the judge of that.

It's a.....

...good thing that I like the color green!

I'm sure all of you will have trouble believing this, but, apparently, Robert and I have a shy baby. We had our big ultrasound today, and left with no more conclusive information about the baby's gender than we had last night. Our little one kept its legs crossed the entire procedure. So, it looks like the baby will continue to affectionately be called the cashew.

You may ask, was it just because we did not learn gender that we thought the baby was uncooperative (oh, sorry, shy)? No, the baby did not want a picture of its face taken, and moved any time the ultrasound technician was honing in for a photo. Additionally, she had trouble getting some of the actual photos that they need for the full report. So, depending on what the doctor says, we may be going back for round 2 in a few weeks.

We did learn a few new things during the estimated measurements:
Weight of an average baby at 19 weeks = 8oz
Weight of our baby at 19 weeks = 11 oz

Weight of Nina at birth ~ 6 lbs
Weight of Robert at birth ~ 9lbs

HMMM - do you see where I'm going with this?

You will also notice that the due date has been moved a bit...looks like we are now tracking a little earlier. But, I'm sure the baby will join us when he/she deems ready. Otherwise, the ultrasound went well, looks like our little one might have Robert's longer legs, which bodes well for a future ballerina!

The Promised Land

End of Week 18

Well, after much anticipation, the days of feeling better have finally arrived. Knock on wood, I have gone almost 2 full weeks without nausea! I had almost forgotten what it feels like to be truly hungry. It is great to have an appetite again. Fruits and vegetables are still my favorite foods, and I really haven't had any new cravings, but I at least have wanted to eat like a regular human being.

We have finished the first "getting ready for baby" exercise. We built our new desk in the living room and have rearranged. Somehow, in the phenomenon that is interior design, we have added a full size desk and bookshelf to the room, and we now have more space. I'm not entirely sure how this happens, but it is a welcome relief.

I had my first prenatal massage last weekend, and much like other things while pregnant, it's sadly just not the same. They don't massage your feet or hands, really, so you leave feeling like you've missed something. I think the next time I go, I will have them just do intense back/shoulders/head, then I won't feel like it was incomplete. Apparently, certain massage spots can cause early labor, so they avoid them. I think once I hit the 38 week mark, and I'm considered "full term", I will be going for a full hour and half - bring on the labor!

The little cashew likes to hide out whenever I go to the doctor office, making it hard for him to locate the heartbeat on the doppler. This is discouraging, as we are soon to go to our 20 week ultrasound. I am beginning to believe that even though we want to find out the gender, the little cashew may not be so accommodating.

Odd Food Cravings

OK - it's official, I now understand what they say about crazy midnight cravings. I woke up at 2am last night with a STRONG desire for French Bread and cheese. And not just any cheese, brie! All I could think about was soft/chewy bread slathered in cheese. The craving was so strong I could taste it! Needless to say, I sadly went back to bed with no snack.

Our Little Health Nut

Week 15 - Things are Looking Up

I am finally starting to have some days where I am feeling pretty great. However, I have concluded that our little Cashew really doesn't like the unhealthy food. Things the baby does not like:

• French Fries
• Onion Rings
• Tater Tots

Any of these are items guaranteed to set me back a few steps in the progress of feeling better.

We took our first serious trips to the baby stores this past weekend to register. I thought building a wedding registry was hard, but I was mistaken. That was nothing, at least I knew what all of those things do! Thankfully, we had Amy (a mother of three kids herself) with us to help us know what items you really need vs the things the baby stores think you need. I'm sure this was great entertainment for her. The bright spot of the day was that we somehow managed to pick out a nursery theme faster than we were able to pick out china when we got married. I'm not entirely sure exactly what this says about us.

I learned, however, at the end of the day, Babies R Us is not as evil as I once thought. While I think the light inside is designed to give you a headache, we found that they had most things we had been looking for, and were even cheaper than Target for many things. Not that I'm anxious to head back, but I no longer consider them the work of the devil. I think the key is short visits with a limited shopping list.

The Little Cashew

The baby's in utero name has officially changed. A few weeks ago, when we read in the book that the baby was the size of a cashew, Robert was hooked. Ever since then, it's been all about our little cashew. This is highly ironic since cashews are about the only nut that I don't like! Even more so since the baby was the size of a cashew for less than a week. At the last ultrasound, we determined that the baby was about the size of a lime.

Which leads me to a very sad Cinco De Mayo. Since there was plenty of rain here in DC, Robert didn't have to play softball, which meant we could go out for some Mexican food (if you can call it that). I thought it wouldn't be all that bad without a Margarita, I mean, I could get a virgin Daquiri, right? NOOOOOO. Apparently, in preparation for their busiest night ever, the restaurant had chosen to only offer premixed daquiris. However, a Virgin Pina Colada did save the day! But, it wasn't quite as refreshing as strawberry would have been. Meanwhile, the guys both had beers with limes. Sadly, beer has never smelled or sounded so good, and I don't even LIKE beer that much.

We had another dr. appointment yesterday. I am still tracking at no net weight gain, even with my baby bump and all. I am tracking my weight on our Wii Fit, and instead of having weight LOSS goals, I have put in my monthly weight GAIN goals. The Wii must be so confused. Too bad it doesn't have a "pregnant" setting, then maybe in the future I'd get the cheery sound, rather than the groan that I predict I will start getting eventually.

For everyone curious, we are scheduled to have our OB appointment where we can learn the gender on June 19th - so 7 more weeks! Let's just hope the Cashew cooperates.

My friend Amy is taking us to Babies R Us to do the scary baby registry. I'm sure we will be rapidly overwhelmed with the amount of stuff that goes along with babies, but we are relying on her to tell us what we really need, and what we can do without.

New things I have learned:

• Vitamin B6 is a great energy boost. It keeps you up at night.
• The Boppy maternity pillow is the best TRAVEL pillow ever made.
• I still don't like pecan pie
• Crab Cakes are still fabulous
• Eating on a deck overlooking the beach increases the appetite (thanks Kelly and Billy for getting married in South Carolina)

On my way to being wider than I am tall...

For everyone who has been waiting to see how quickly I would pop out - the answer was quickly, very quickly. So, as promised, here are pictures of me and the baby at the end of the first trimester.

I made the mistake of shopping for maternity clothes before the morning sickness really kicked in and I lost weight. These jeans fit great around the belly, but are falling off everywhere else. I imagine someday once I start gaining baby weight, I'll grow into them. But, I wanted to find an outfit that would grow with me so I could have the same clothes on for each picture. After 3 oddly blob-like ultrasounds, we finally arrived at week 12, which is apparently when the baby acutally starts looking like a baby. Here is our little cashew. At the visit where this was taken, we got to hear the heartbeat for the first time and see the baby move about. The little one reacted to my belly laughs by dancing about (ok, so maybe it was more like flailing the arms about, but I'm going with dancing), so hopefully that is a sign we have a future dancer.

Flailing my arms about

Still waiting for the elusive glory of the 2nd trimester

I am beginning to wonder if what they say about the end of the first trimester is true - that it ends! We are nearing the end of week 12, and I can't say that I'm feeling much better most of the time. I get an occassional good few hours, but definitely have not woken up feeling the best I've ever felt. ha.

Things I've learned while pregnant:

• My hair is actually more gray than brown
• My hair grows about an inch per month
• If you take a benedryl each night, it becomes a less effective sleep aid
• If vitamins made you sick before you were pregnant, they will make you sick while pregnant
• The desire to cook is greatly diminished when you have no sense of smell

For those wondering, no, we still haven't started thinking about names.

However, next week, we'll be finishing up the first trimester and I will be able to do fantastic things like get a massage, color my hair, and really return to my exercise regimen (such that it is). So, we'll try and take some pictures of the bump soon, and post them up here.

Superstitious

As is the same I'm sure for many exptectant moms, I've started to ponder what name we may call the alien beast inside. And, while I am on board with waiting till the little tyke comes (lest we have an oops with the ultrasound), I am ok hypothesizing about possible names.

Robert - not so much.

He won't even utter the words of names he LIKES, as it is TOO soon to be thinking about names. Although, we did have a funny moment at the bookstore the other day. We stood in the baby section, pondering the difference between the 10,000 Baby Names and the 100,000 Baby Names books. Do all of you know the difference between these two books? The difference is that one has 90,000 more names that we will NOT name our child. Since, if we have to look it up because we've never heard of it - it's too weird a name for us.

I'm a firm believer in two syllable names when you have a last name that is a single syllable. So, I'm quietly taking notes of names I like - storing them up for the day when Robert decides that we can start thinking about names. If you have name suggestions (no Roberta, Sparky or Noah), feel free to post them for our consideration.

Everything is Hot

Well, I've heard my friends say that you fall into two pregnancy categories:
"Can't get enough spicy food" or "Suddenly spicy food is much hotter than it used to be"

I figured I might end up in the former category with my love for hot food - but am sad to realize that I actually landed in the latter. Don't get me wrong, spiciness has not yet affected my DESIRE for spicy food (when I want to eat, that is), just my tolerance. It's just odd how everything seems so spicy to me now.

We went to the ob yesterday for another ultrasound. Here are the stats:
2.17 cm (.85 inches)
bloblike with start of umbilical cord

For those who are curiuos:

• Yes we're going to find out if it's a boy or girl
• Nina is convinced it is a girl
• Robert is 50% sure it's a girl
• For now, we're calling it Frankie

9 Weeks - Cheese and I are not friends

I know many of you may be reading this a few weeks post-posting, but I thought I would start this with a little insight into how life has been. The hardest thing for me so far has been all the things that I've had trouble eating:

• Cheese
• Meat
• Root Beer
• Mushrooms
• Wheat (bread, pasta, etc)

Which, I have to say, has led to some interesting meals. Today's Lunch:

• Fresh Pineapple
• Baked Potato

Thankfully, I haven't lost my desire for ice cream, so the baby is getting SOME calcium other than in vitamins. It's a good thing I like vegetables too, since one day, I think my food intake included crackers and orange bell pepper slices.

To Robert's great joy I have already gone up a cup size.

To my great despair, I have already started to show. I guess when you're only 5' tall, there isn't much room for a baby to hide. Although any woman who doesn't agree that maternity pants are the best invention since sliced bread is LYING out her teeth. Pull on pants are fabulous - I rank them as high in practically as minivans. Probably both things you're not supposed to admit if you want to keep any sign of HIP.