Gametes In Love

There’s a big consignment sale happening this week-end. This was an exciting prospect for me as S2 has outgrown the NB, the 0-3 and the 3-6 clothes in his closet (which is a good thing given he’s 6m old).

Being the rational purger that I am, I’ve been trying to unload unused items on a pretty regular basis. I figured this sale can be a good way for me to clean out s2’s closet, while looking for 3T sized items.

As a general note, I have to say that prepping items for the sale was a major pain in my rear. You have to tag EVERYTHING, meaning that I spent 3 hours going over each item amongst the 3 bins of outgrown clothes and then enter each into the sale’s tagging system. THEN I spent another 3 hours attaching said tags on my items and then hanging everything.

I did mention pain in rear, right?

I labored over deciding how much each item would be worth: what is it worth to me, vs. what is it worth to someone else. My mental price tag included the memories of my sons wearing those clothes: what milestones they met in those items… what monotonous activities they did in those items. Even never-worn items with tags still on had an emotional hold on me. But buyers wouldn’t see that. So all of a sudden the outfit S2 wore for his 3m photos was sporting a $2 tag around it.

Of course, I pulled out the clothes I couldn’t part with. I “tried” to limit myself to 5 items in each age group and put them in a plastic bin. Yes, I’ll likely never open said plastic bin again, but those few outfits will stay with me. FOR-EVER.

The whole preparation process was emotional. Dropping off was emotional, but I didn’t realize how much more difficult it would be to be IN the store watching people look over the boys’ clothes and choose them. Yes, this was the intent all along, but watching an older lady pick-out the gray sweat GAP  outfit (that had NEVER been worn, btw) made me want to walk over and rip the hanger from her hands. Of course I didn’t, but a part of me wanted to.

Ugh. This growing up thing is not cool.

Today’s Foto Friday is brought to you by Augie Chang Photography. We did our maternity pics with him back in October, and it’s high time I share.

I miss my belly 🙁

See the full set here.

Why yes, I am aware of the Emily Post 2nd-child-baby-shower-is-a-no-no etiquette. However, nowhere does it say that you shouldn’t try and save money when you’re acquiring essentials beyond your first-born. And you know what? Some of the big name stores send you completion coupons for items not purchased off your baby registry. It’s no free shopping spree, but enough to convince me to register. Hey, if I’m going to buy a second humidifier anyway, why not save 10% off of it?

I found it amusing how different this registry was over G’s. G had all the cutesy baby items: rattles, blankets, clothes. S2 on the other hand? Bottle nipples, space heater, baby drugs, and underpants. Yes, you got that right: undies. For ME. Plain, comfy, and cheap. Knowing that I’m about to get 9 months of my period in a row, I wanna live in something that I won’t regret ruining  and will easily fit the you-can-suck-the-Nile-dry absorption-grade pads I have to wear.

I had to call the store the other week to follow-up on my missing completion coupon, and the guy on the other side had to access my registry to see what was going on. I wonder if he was perplexed over why our baby picks resembled the shopping list of an undergrad college student vs. that of a giddy expecting mom. But you know what? Once you’ve been through it before, and you know what you really need, you don’t judge.

And yes,  I am giddy over the thought of new Hanes hipsters.

Well, now that it’s over, I’ve started thinking about all the things I won’t be missing about being pregnant. My belly time with S2 has been cool, and I was NOT ready for it to be over. This pregnancy, being my last, I will miss in many ways, but here’s what I won’t:

– morning sickness
– constipation. Apparently when things don’t come up the front door (see #1 above), they don’t find their way to the rear exit. Either way, it’s a LOT of bonding time with the porcelain friend. I’ve learned to bring my iPhone with me and listen/watch podcasts
– falling asleep with your eyes open in the middle of the day
– hip pain
– round ligament pain
– pelvic bone pain
– all the things that swell down under. Sometimes I felt I was giving Baboons a run for their money
– hand achy-ness from being swollen. Let’s just say I’ve never had a desire to have my hands look like those of the Michelin man. I’m swollen now too, post surgery IV, but at least that’s getting better
– swollen legs & feet (notice a swelling theme here?). I wore boots a few weeks ago and when I took then off, my legs had swollen & conformed to shape of the boot wrinkles. It was cool, and gross all at the same time. Wavy calves: not sexy
– not being able to cut my toenails easily
– lack of patience/energy when it comes to being with my toddler… although infant sleep deprivation might not be much better. Hmn, stay tuned on this one
– hot flashes that make you feel so hot you feel like you’ll pass out… in 64 degree weather
– charlie horses in the middle of the night
– sudden urges to wet my car-seat because some little boy has decided it would be a good idea to head-butt/punch mommy in the bladder while she sits in bumper-to-bumper freeway traffic
– heartburn. As if lying down was already pleasant

But are the boys worth it? Oh yeah. 10x over.

How far along: 37w
Weight: 155.6lb
Measuring: 41″ around
Doctor updates: 0cm dilated, but 25% effaced. Since she’s not my regular OB (I’m doing the office rotation thing right now), she doesn’t know if this implies progress, or this is just the norm for my body so far. Dr. M hadn’t mentioned anything about the thinning of my cervix, or feeling “different” this pregnancy, so I have no idea. Either way, I NEED S2 to hold out another 2 weeks… at least for me. Oh, and he’s also facing into my hip. Just like G. If he’s got his cord wrapped around his neck, then it will be JUST like G’s delivery. I’m already ready for a c/s, so this isn’t a problem. I just don’t want to go through another 10 hours of labor, dedicated for a VBAC only to end up in the OR again. Arg!
Contractions: Thankfully, none yet. I didn’t have Braxton Hicks with G, and I don’t seem to be having any with S2, either. But, of course, we’ve got time 🙂
Sleep: Fine. I just wish I had more of it. I’m definitely approaching a hibernation stage here.
Gender: Team Destructor!
Movement: A lot less these days, but he’s happy to tell me he’s in there
Feeling: Sleeeeeepy. I’m hoping to take advantage of daytime naps starting next week. Did I mention only 5 more work days left? 5, baby!!!
Food cravings: Nothing significant this week
Fetal development:
Your baby is now considered “full term,” even though your due date is three weeks away. If you go into labor now, his lungs will likely be mature enough to fully adjust to life outside the womb. (Some babies need a bit more time, though.)
Your baby weighs 6 1/3 pounds and measures a bit over 19 inches, head to heel (like a stalk of Swiss chard). Many babies have a full head of hair at birth, with locks from 1/2 inch to 1 1/2 inches long. But don’t be surprised if your baby’s hair isn’t the same color as yours. Dark-haired couples are sometimes thrown for a loop when their children come out as blonds or redheads, and fair-haired couples have been surprised by Elvis look-alikes. And then, of course, some babies sport only peach fuzz.

All right, you slackers. The Storm Predictors game is up one week from today. If you “forgot” to enter in your guesses, you have a little bit of time left.

Get to it!

How far along: 36w. (Almost full term)
Weight: 153.8lb. Arg!
Measuring: 40.5″
Sleep: Decent. 2 wake-ups per night. I feel rested in the morning, but by early afternoon I need my nap
Gender: Team Blue!
Movement: Still a wiggle. And a strong one at that.
Feeling: Just fine, but I tire really easily now. I can’t be on my feet for more than 15-20 minutes at a time.
Food cravings: Nothing in particular, but I feel like I’m starving. All.the.time. Maybe that would explain the 2 lb gain this week 🙁
Fetal development:
Your baby is still packing on the pounds — at the rate of about an ounce a day. He now weighs almost 6 pounds and is more than 18 1/2 inches long. He’s shedding most of the downy covering of hair that covered his body as well as the vernix caseosa, the waxy substance that covered and protected his skin during his nine-month amniotic bath. Your baby swallows both of these substances, along with other secretions, resulting in a blackish mixture, called meconium, will form the contents of his first bowel movement.

At the end of this week, your baby will be considered full-term. (Full-term is 37 to 42 weeks; babies born before 37 weeks are pre-term and those born after 42 are post-term.)

Following my cord blood donation rant, I continued making calls and asking around for organizations that accept cord blood. And I found some!!!!

There are 2 organizations that will accept cord blood out of state: LifebankUSA (which focuses on clinical research), and Cryo Bank International (which places collected cord blood on a national transplant registry).

Sadly, LifebankUSA cannot accept a donation from me. Turns out that my Eastern European residency in the 1980s may have exposed me to mad-cow disease contaminated meats. While my brain doesn’t feel particularly swiss-cheesey (pregnancy and mommy brain excluded), this was a sad blow to be honest. It’s one thing to be rejected for something that I was personally in control of (say getting a tattoo recently, or sharing needles), but when it’s something that was not my choice, it hurt. Our conversation lasted all but 10 minutes once we began discussing my origins. On the bonus side I didn’t have to fill out 14 pages worth of forms 🙂

However, Cryo Bank International doesn’t have this problem. I asked them to confirm, and the donation coordinator said I looked good, and pending three wet signatures from my doc (I had forms faxed over from them) my paperwork should be final and they’ll send me a donation kit.

Kinda cool!

I AM a little disappointed that my OB’s office charges for the collection of cord blood when used for donation purposes. $200 ain’t cheap, yo! The moms that directed me to these 2 organizations said that their OBs did not charge, so I was kind of expecting Dr. M wouldn’t either. Given how awesome she and her office is on everything else, this was just a surprise. However, our very own (version of) Suzie Orman confirmed that any money I spend on the collection of cord blood can be considered a donation for tax purposes, even though it’s not being paid directly to the donation organization.

So… as of right now, all systems are a go. This does add a bit more complexity to the “todo” list when I go into labor, and then the hours post-recovery, but it’s important to me and I’m glad we get a chance to do it.

I would still prefer to donate to clinical research, and if I get a call from Genentec I’d be thrilled, but I’m glad that there’s a plan.

Woot!

I’m a cheap date.

I say this because typically one glass of wine is plenty for me. I don’t drink often, which is a major contributing factor to this too. So, why is it that during this pregnancy white wine seems to be one of the items I’m consistently craving? I stare longingly accross the table when S has wine with dinner.

I haven’t been drinking, don’t worry, but I’ve made it very clear to S that I’m fully expecting a bottle of chilled Crios Torontes in the recovery room.

I just hope the nurses don’t think I’m a lush.

How far along: 35w. (Oh, and 35 days to go)
Weight: 151.6lb. By the way, HOLY growth spurt!!! If you look at my belly this week vs. last, major difference. Kinda explains the 2.5lb weight gain. Someone’s putting on the poundage. I just hope it’s the kid, not the mom.
Measuring: 40.5″ across my widest point.
Sleep: Good. Although I wish that I will stop waking up at 5:30 every morning, just ‘cuz.
Gender: Nutsicles
Movement: Calming down a bit, but still a wiggly worm.
Feeling: Overall good, and progressively more excited about my next life transition here.
Food cravings: It’s not food, but I want wine.
Fetal development:
Your baby doesn’t have much room to maneuver now that he’s over 18 inches long and tips the scales at 5 1/4 pounds. Because it’s so snug in your womb, he isn’t likely to be doing somersaults anymore, but the number of times he kicks should remain about the same. His kidneys are fully developed now, and his liver can process some waste products. Most of his basic physical development is now complete — he’ll spend the next few weeks putting on weight.