Fish Bowl Belly

Our little daredevil is approximately 1 foot long now. We were watching a comedy show a few nights ago, and I was laughing hysterically, and all of the sudden, I felt his full body squirm inside me. That was probably the weirdest feeling yet. I was laying there explaining it to Aaron. It felt like a squirmy fish or eel was moving all around and my belly was the fish bowl. Very strange and different than the feeling of kicking. The experiences continue.

Kicking (but not screaming, at least yet)

I started feeling kicks, which felt like a fluttery butterfly in my tummy, about a month ago, right when we were at our first music concert since I was pregnant. It was very cool. (See more about that in my “concert-going” post.)

A couple weeks ago, I started feeling real kicks on the inside that couldn’t be mistaken for a real being inside my tummy. Second best experience I’ve had since seeing the first ultrasound.

Since then, I’ve kept my hand on my tummy as much as possible looking forward to feeling the kicks on my hand, so that Aaron could experience them. (His reaction when I first started really showing about 4.5 months was, “wow, you’re really pregnant,” and I replied, “yes, thanks for catching up!” That was fun to see it become more real for him.

Well last night, in the middle of the night, Aaron had his arm up against me laying half-awake in bed, and he got kicked. He woke me up to tell me. It was so cool. Their first moment was alone together. (And Aaron got to feel a kick on the outside before I did!)

Boy!!

Both of us were excited to know the sex but not attached one way or the other. I think you can’t help but immediately think about the sex you’re not going to have right when you learn—but then you quickly just think about what you are having.

I was partial to a boy and Aaron to a girl. He helped raise his little brother and felt like a girl would be fun and new. He also thought having another me in the house would be fun, and I too thought having another him in the house would be fun thinking about a boy.

We also talked about the feeling of babies being little, cute, and cuddly—things that generally resembled girls not necessarily boys. Yet I’ve been confronted by the idea of raising a princess that required a lot of pink and frilly stuff. Just seems like raising a boy would have less societal pressure for some reason.

Plus, I just love boys. Most of them seem to love their moms, and as a mom, you get to remain queen of the household when you have boys. Hehe. It’s a boy!

A girl?

According to this Ancient Chinese Birth Gender Chart, given to me by a co-worker, per my age and the month we conceived, we are having a girl. It’s supposedly 99% accurate. We shall see this Thursday!

Second trimester fun: Baby bump, emotions, and UFOs

I don’t think I’ve written since I’ve been in my second trimester. Well, I’m in my second trimester!!

My favorite thing about the second trimester is that I don’t feel nauseous all the time anymore. I’m able to eat better and work out again and feel like myself.

However, I have grown a baby bump, so it’s not like I’m going to forget I’m pregnant.

And my body is changing again. Whereas nature built up some reserves before any real sign of baby during the first trimester (hence going from size 4 to 8 pant size almost immiediately), those reserves are now being tapped overtime to fuel rapid growth of the kid. I can actually feel my arms and legs getting smaller while my mid-section grows. Go kid—I’d rather you grow than my hips!

The challenges in the second trimester are emotions and losing buttons. I’m sure I had emotions in the first trimester, but they were probably masked by the nausea. These days, I can feel them hardcore. I usually embrace them and ride them out, and other times, I am abruptly reminded again, that nature is in charge.

Finally, the logistical issue of unexpected, unidentified flying objects (OFOs)—or not being able to close my pants without popping buttons. (Stayed tuned for a post about cutting off the tops of my fat pants and sewing on stretchy fabric.)

CYBERDOG — don’t mess!

Feast your eyes on our child’s first piece of clothing—Cyberdog! And straight from the UK no less. Thank you Aunt Molly and Uncle Bodhi!

http://shop.cyberdog.net/page/84/itemscroll?catLink=/category/193/babies&catMain=kids&catSub=babies

The second you get pregnant, things do change

I hate to admit it, but things do change the second you get pregnant. Even though I understood on a basic level and always love my friends who got pregnant, I used to think they were sorta funny. They would not be as available, they would start doing other things, some of them would make major life changes. My impression was, you’re having a kid, why do you have to change your whole life?

Well, now that I’m in their shoes, you don’t have to change your “whole” life, but life does alter. I’m not talking about all the physical changes, but your future literally alters the instant you find out your pregnant. 

Where you could generally feel in control before, you’ve just entered into a whole new, unknown world. Your thoughts change–because your stream of consciousness changes. You evaluate time, money, relationships, your character, goals, and values–things you’ve had handled–it’s all thrown up in the air for re-evaluation.

And it’s crazy; it’s fun; it’s full of new perspectives, feelings, insights; it’s confronting, challenging, exciting. It’s an opportunity. It takes time. And that was probably what my friends were experiencing. Kinda cool.

Why Aaron wanted to have kids

Aaron purports to all that if it wasn’t for me, we may or may be having kids—that it was me who wanted them. However, if you dive a little deeper and ask him what having kids represented for him, you’d would be very touched. At least I am.

Aaron’s insight was that he could pretty much predict the rest of our life. To date, we’ve made things happen, we have fun, we are able to do a lot of the things we enjoy in life, but his point was, life is predictable. If we have kids, our future would not be predictable, and that would be an adventure.

Wow, love

I’m driving back from the Denver Tech Center this afternoon, on my way to an appointment, and I started listening to an audio book I downloaded earlier in the week on my iPhone, called Magical Beginnings, Enchanted Lives by Deepak Chopra.

The reason I was listening to this particular book is that it was the only one iTunes had for download, which was also sold and recommended by the prenatal yoga studio I’ve been going to.

The beginning was a bit touchy feely but eased up and started describing interesting details about the experience of growing inside the womb and connections baby makes with mom.

From early development, the temperature and comfort in the womb, to when the baby would start to smell and use its senses, to studies that show babies like food similar in taste after birth to what mom digests during pregnancy, to how baby experiences mom’s emotions…was all painted in vivid picture along with coaching, sort of guided meditation, for mom to connect with baby…and I was present, more than ever before, to the growing life inside me.

I probably got a fourth of the way through the book before I arrived at my appointment, where I had a 15-minute ultrasound -- I got to watch the baby for 15 minutes. Ultrasounds aren’t usually anywhere close to 15 minutes—they are usually much shorter—just quick check-ins to ensure everything is on track. But I got lucky.

15 minutes was long enough for it to seem like time stopped for a moment, for me to just watch, and I saw movement in my belly, settling and then wiggling, holding its own hands, crossing its legs, looking up, and more. And for the first time, I fell in love a little.

The alien graduates to daredevil status today

Our little daredevil hit a milestone today. He got his very first picture taken, and his heartbeat was visible through ultrasound. That means the little tyke successfully made it through what medical science states is the most critical phase of development. And so, we have graduated him from the alien feeding off my body to a welcomed daredevil in the making!