Listen up kid…

…if you ever read this, your mom is listening to a Stanton Warriors station on Pandora that your dad created for her and just got done listening to a kick-butt Crystal Method song, Uberzone, Timo Mass, and now Paul Van Dyk, and expects you to have just as good taste in music if not better. Feel those vibrations, and don’t disappoint! Love you already.

Hello third trimester!

What a ride being pregnant has been. They aren’t kidding when they say each trimester is unique.

The second trimester was a breeze, to say the least. Emotions—although high—evened out. The cute baby bump arrived, and no more feeling exhausted and nauseous.

Awe, the glorious second trimester, without warning, with no sweet good-byes—is now gone.

And right on schedule—realized within days by checking the calendar to investigate what the hell hit me—welcome the third trimester.

The wild-chipmunk emotions I know so well from the beginning of second trimester are back (at least I don’t have to get to know them again; just have to adjust to them again), a sudden “large-ness” feeling has arrived (insert sarcastic yay), and a tiredness has come upon me again—like wham!

Good news is, no nausea like the first trimester (so already, third is waaaay better than the first); the kid is growing rapidly, and I am starting to feel his true form, which is fun; and we’re well on our way to meet the little guy!

PS  The wild chipmunk is a single-car roller coaster at Lakeside Amusement Park in Denver that takes lots of tight turns and bunny hops, obscured upon approach, switching between high lateral g-forces and abrupt negative vertical g-forces—thanks Wikipedia—that was a perfect description for describing the emotions!

From OB to nurse-midwife

Aaron and I switched prenatal care providers this week. We were working with a traditional OB/GYN. Perfectly capable and nice, but she spent 15 minutes with us at a time and was short in describing only a few possible ways birth could go.

We didn’t feel right for a while, and it’s not because we were working with a doctor or have to have a natural birth. It was because she wouldn’t freely discuss options with us.

So, we searched and searched the OB pool for someone who would be our partner throughout the process—someone who would contribute their invaluable background and experience to our ability to learn and make choices. And although I’m sure there are some OBs out there who would have worked ok for us, given the variables—hospital, insurance, and just plain timing—we just didn’t find one.

In the back of my mind, I was always fascinated by the idea of Mountain Midwifery, Colorado’s only birth center. Not because I was out to have a natural birth, but because of how clear they were in discussing all the possible options and outcomes around having a baby, and that’s why we switch to them.

Other reasons we feel really great about the choice is that they allow you total freedom of movement during labor, (the Children’s hospital in Aurora has similar options, but they are too far away). They have also created a community that Aaron and I both feel really comfortable with—where education, conversation, and mindfulness is present—and where we’re meeting others who were looking for the same thing.

Mountain Midwifery offers totally natural birth, to alternative medicines and herbs, to traditional medicine and techniques. And they are very specific about who they take—you have to be healthy with no issues that would categorize you as high risk. And if an issue comes up before birth, you can tap into their pool of traditional OBs who understand the birth center model, and therefore a model of thinking that works for us. And if something comes up during birth, it’s just a 3-minute ride to Swedish on the same block, and your midwife take you over.

So, that’s our current path. More to come. We start our first baby classes end of month!

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.