New Year's Resolution

I realize that I haven't posted since E. finally decided to make her appearance.  I kept saying that I wanted to post her birth story first but I kept procrastinating.  Since the new year is almost here, I'll just resolve to post her story before it begins and resolve to post once a week about E.  (I'm using my friend Rebecca's practice of not mentioning children's names outside of email on the internet).

 

So, here's the first one, before this year ends.  It's mostly for my sister, Rachel, since she made this lovely outfit.  In the picture she looks like she's sitting up by herself but I wedged a big pillow under her and stepped aside for a second to take the picture with my new computer.

This week, E. has been kicking even more than usual.  She gets herself from her back to her side but not all the way over.  She also can scoot herself up her crib by kicking and I think she's noticed that she can make her mobile animals shake when she kicks.  I wonder what it sounds like to the neighbors below us when she thumps on the floor.  Rob is calling her Thumper now.

I gave her a small bowl of mushed banana today and she seemed to like it.  She jams her fist in her mouth to "help" and then smears it on her bib and eats the bib too.  We had bathtime afterwards.  

She also has been making this noise that I call her fake sneeze.  I think she's blowing air out her lips but I'm not sure.  It sounds like a tiny sneeze but I don't think she really is sneezing.  I haven't caught her in the act yet.  

Moments to Remember

While I admit I have been making mental notes about things I won't miss about being this large, I've also been realizing that there are some things I will miss. Number one is feeling the baby move. It's mostly second nature now but every so often I think about it and realize how odd and cool it is. Especially when I can feel and see an elbow or when Kip does this turn/angle thing which causes one side of my belly to jut out.

I'll also miss the automatic seat on the subway which started once the winter clothes came off. I've noticed that moms with strollers or baby carriers don't get those offers nearly so much. My favorite was when this older man jumped up from his seat and guided me by the elbow to the empty seat. A gentleman in New York!

I'm not sure I'll miss the constant questions about due dates and the gender of the baby, though. I wish I had thought to tally all the predictions to see if there was a trend and to see if the majority was right.

And the unwanted advice--"you shouldn't be walking alone right now" or "it's too hot for you today, you shouldn't be out"--how else do I buy bread or go to the doctor's? Also, recently, the strangers who comment about how it's going to be any day now. Thanks for reminding me how obviously over-pregnant I am!

The funniest stranger moment, though was this woman who decided to talk to my belly. She was standing behind me in the grocery store checkout line as I swiped my credit card. In a singsong voice, she asked when I was due, "Today? Tomorrow? Tonight?" And then when I answered her follow up question about gender she replied, "What a lovely surprise!" Finally, she leaned over and said to my belly, "See, this is a credit card. When you come out, we'll go to Bloomingdale's!"

Old Ultrasound Pics

Ok, these are from April but I never published them. They're a good reminder for me while I wait that there really is a baby in there, not just some wiggly creature that doesn't want to come out!

prego pictures

I know I've been horrible at updating the old blog but now that I'm playing "wait for the baby" I feel a little more inspired. These photos go chronologically backwards.


toasting with Abby at Rachel's wedding; my favorite preggie pic (there have been no more recent ones for good reason!!)

a cliche I know but barefoot was the way to be at an outdoor wedding

8 month belly at wedding rehearsal

posing for Rob's drawing; I look morose because I'm not good at modeling

a few weeks or so after that

blurry pic from Brenda's wedding in March

Things I've been working on

I'm not sure if this is the "nesting urge or not but I've been working on a lot of projects recently. This is Grandpa's sweater vest (started after Christmas so it's taken a little while).

Grandma's sweater vest which was sewn together and even had one button on, as you can see, when I realized that it wouldn't fit so I had to take it apart. I'm almost done fixing the back.

I really love the buttons for Grandma's sweater which I got from



Grandma's button box which she divided up between R. & me for Christmas.




I also used some buttons from there to re-button my faux-fur New Oreleans thrift store coat.

I've been having fun making my own bread too, both for daily at home use and for communion. I put a cross on both loaves because I wasn't sure which one I was going to take. This is the Peasant Bread from the amazing no-knead artisanal bread cookbook that I first heard about on angry chicken's blog.

This is a science project I'm doing with my class. We're all trying this at home to see what happens to the onions over 5 weeks. My hypothesis is that they will sprout but then rot. I have two set up because someone was absent and unable to do it this weekend. But I don't get why the water on the right is orangey. It's really not just the table wood showing through. Could it be rotting already?? (Please ignore the bread crumbs--as noted above I've been a mad baker recently).

A postscript for my last post

So, the last week before spring break is always Spirit Week at my school and this year one of the dress-up days was "dress like a teacher" day. I put my hair up and wore my glasses to dress like Mrs. Gosson, my third grade teacher. A few of the girls in my class dressed up like me (with no pregnancy additions) and really didn't look much like me--no curly hair, for example. But then the k, 1st, & 2nd grade teachers all decided to dress like me too. And they all used varying sizes of pillows to make themselves enormous. I just hope some of them get that huge someday!

The kindergarteners had really funny responses to their teacher's sudden pregnancy. A lot of them were sure she really was pregnant and so she decided she had to quell the rumors by showing them her pillow. Even after she did this, and left it on her chair, one little girl kept asking her, "When is your baby coming out? Is it still in there?"

Belly weirdness

So last week I had to get dressed up for my school's auction/fundraiser. And it took me a long time to pick a dress--I finally ended up wearing a black knit dress that my mom sent me which isn't maternity but had some room. Since I had a nice necklace on, I didn't have to go home and change.

Anyway, when I got there I went into the ladies room with my friends and my first reaction was to try and suck in my stomach. Because you could see easily how it was poking out in the dress. And then I realized how silly I was being. That's what it's supposed to look like. But it's still an adjustment.

And now the newest thing seems to be that whenever I see anyone in passing, they feel duty bound to comment on my belly and how I'm starting to show. Ugh. A friend even took a picture of me at a bridal shower and, aiming at my belly, said, "Smile, baby!"

Hopefully the novelty wears off soon for those I see all the time. But then I'll have to deal with R's wedding when I'll see all sorts of family for the first time and I'll be huge. I guess I could post a picture on here to forestall some of that.

Doesn't it look like

(12 weeks)

Kipper's moving?

The baby seemed really active the whole time. At one point he looked like he was punching me! (we're using the universal "he" or Kipper to talk about him so we don't have to say "it" but we're not finding out the gender).

12 weeks--close up

This was the best set of ultrasounds so far. You can see the head pretty clearly on the left and then maybe a hint of the foot on the upper right. The still photos don't do the moving ones justice but they're still cool.

First visit to my ob

The size is the CRL number (2.27 cm) and she gave me a new due date of 8/22.

Graduation from IVF

This is my last ultrasound from my IVF doctor because I was at 8 weeks and we could see and hear the heartbeat even more strongly. See if you notice a difference in the ultrasound picture for the 9 week one. I think the IVF docs get more money for better machines.

Week 8 and growing

Week 7 again, length 7.9 mm

Baby is in between the plus signs.

"It's normal if we don't see a heartbeat yet, oh wait, there it is!"

This was week 7 and it was pretty cool to see the little flicker of a heart and then to hear it.

The best part of IVF

All the ultrasounds right away. And I'm not talking about the ones they do before the transfer. In this one, from week 6, the kidney shaped space is my uterus and the little toothpick might be the yolk sack. Too soon to see much of anything but this is when the doctor told me we were only having one.

The Olive Garden at Times Square

Ok, so here's the story of how I found out about the baby.

After dealing with all the IVF stuff (early morning doctor visits, shots every night, etc), and then finally getting to the end of the two week wait after the embryo transfer, it was finally time for the pregnancy test. It just happened to coincide with the Christmas party for all of us teachers at my school, which was held at the Olive Garden in Times Square on December 17th.

I already kind of thought the test would be negative because I had some of my usual signs of my period (spotting, breaking out, etc), so I was pretty sure I didn't want to hear the news until after the dinner. So, when I got a call from my doctor's office right at 3:15 (about 30 minute before I left for our early dinner), I let it go straight to the message.

But I couldn't really forget about it, as I'm sure you'd understand. I kept looking at my phone throughout the dinner. When it was finally over, I still wasn't sure if I wanted to check the message but I had to go to the bathroom so I decided to check while I was in there. And lo and behold, I was blown away. The nurse said something about how she hated to leave such good news on my answering machine but I didn't care. I think I had to listen to it twice to let it all sink in.

After that, I went to the Toys R Us (it has a huge ferris wheel inside) and bought a baby stuffed animal. I think it's a bear or something but it has those sewn eyes instead of the marbley ones. I didn't even care that I had to wait in line with all the whiny kids anxious about their Christmas presents.

When I got home, I showed Rob the things I had gotten from the Christmas dinner and then gave him the bag with the toy in it last. He dropped it--he was so surprised. He had been preparing himself to be really supportive of my disappointment and so he was not expecting good news!