Gametes In Love

How far along: 19w
Weight: 132lbs. And this is after eating moderately alright. Ugh. I will be HAPPY to do a 1lb/week gain through the rest of pregnancy, but 2lb in one week (following another week of 1+lb gain) is not making me feel good. My OB has a 25-27lb limit for me for this pregnancy, and I just want to keep it under 35lb total. I was on track for this, but with these increased bumps I’m a little worried.
Sleep: Good, now that I’m back in my own bed. Our home renovation evicted us to the guest room for a few days while mudding & painting was going on. The guest bed is great. S and I slept on it for years, but I’ve been spoiled by my sleep number, both in softness as well as size. A pregnant chick needs her space — just sayin’
Gender: Boy. Hopefully this will be confirmed next week and S2 will offer up a money shot for us all
Movement: Possibly feeling “something” as of a few days ago. At least now what I think is movement is in the appropriate area where the baby actually is.
Feeling: Good. I’m in good spirits and nausea only comes around when I’ve stretched out eating a little too long.
What I miss: My energy. I still poop-out by 8-9pm and am asleep well before 10.
What I am looking forward to: Big U/S this week on Friday
Weekly Wisdom: Being pregnant with a tantrumy toddler is not enjoyable. Patience is a lot lower than normal, and I have to stretch myself to keep calm.
Milestones: “almost” half-way baked!!!
Food cravings: Finally some meets. I wanted a burger yesterday. From “In & Out” of all places. Ugh. I ended up with a much healthier deli sandwich.
Fetal development:
Your baby’s sensory development is exploding! His brain is designating specialized areas for smell, taste, hearing, vision, and touch. Some research suggests that he may be able to hear your voice now, so don’t be shy about reading aloud, talking to His, or singing a happy tune if the mood strikes you.

Your baby weighs about 8 1/2 ounces and measures 6 inches, head to bottom — about the size of a large heirloom tomato. His arms and legs are in the right proportions to each other and the rest of his body now. His kidneys continue to make urine and the hair on his scalp is sprouting. A waxy protective coating called the vernix caseosa is forming on his skin to prevent it from pickling in the amniotic fluid.

Huh,

So the results have changed since the last time the integrated screening was done. First off, the screening is performed by the state, which is new (at least to my pregnancy experience) and the results seem a bit different.

I just got a letter with the results from my first, and second trimester blood draws, combined with the NT screen. They are as follows:

– less than 1/100,000 risk of Down Syndrome for my current age, and 1/100,000 risk for my age of egg retrieval.

– less than 1/100,000 risk for Trisomy 18, and 1/100,000 risk for my age of egg retrieval. This is the one that’s been tormenting me the most

– less than 1/10,000 risk for Smith-Lemli-Optiz Syndrome, Chromosome Abnormalities and SCD (Fetal Demise), based on current age

– well below the 2.5 cutoff for neural tube defects, based on current age

So S2 is looking well so far on the gambling wheel of health issues. While this doesn’t promise us 100% that he won’t have these issues, the chances of it are really low and this makes me happy. Dr. M (who got these results even before I did) said that this is as good as she gets to see, so I’m going to live stress free for a bit.

I am actually looking forward to next week’s Big U/S. Having the Bulgarian u/s is actually helping me in that regard, in the sense of things looked good, organ wise 2 weeks ago, and I feel optimistic the diagnosis will be confirmed.

Keep bakin’ kiddo!

How far along: 18 weeks
Weight: 129.9 (and yes, I have eaten terribly and non-stop in the past week)
Sleep: Decent. I spent the week acclimating to PST, and last night was the first I not only slept until 7, but also did not wake up in the middle. I hope this continues.
Gender: Boy! … We think.
Movement: None yet officially
Feeling: Good. Occasional queasiness, but good overall.
What I miss: At this point nothing. I’m a happy clam.
What I am looking forward to: Fetal scan back here in a few weeks.
Food cravings: Vegetables. Especially sweet roasted peppers. Go figure.
Fetal development:
Head to rump, your baby is about 5 1/2 inches long (about the length of a bell pepper) and it weighs almost 7 ounces. It’s busy flexing its arms and legs — movements that you’ll start noticing more and more in the weeks ahead. Its blood vessels are visible through its thin skin, and its ears are now in their final position, although they’re still standing out from the head a bit. A protective covering of myelin is beginning to form around the nerves, a process that will continue for a year after the baby is born.

[while pointing at my shirt] G: Momma, down. Ball!

S: He thinks you have a ball under you shirt.

Me [while straightening the shirt and pointing to the belly]: No, buddy. Baby!

G [continuing to point]: BALL!

S [defensively]: I didn’t teach him that!

Oh yeah, this sure doesn’t give a pregnant woman a complex or anything.

S and I spent our Friday afternoon at the Honda dealership checking out the Honda Pilot. Why? We’re looking for the next car. With my car being nine years old, and S2 on the way, we’re thinking about what’s next.

I’m not thrilled with the idea of owning a giant of a car (Civic and Fit family here), but I’m considering our long term needs and local venue parking restrictions.

The one thing on my ‘must have’ list is a 3rd row. Right now with one carseat in the back, the back row will fit one person comfortably and two if they are very skinny and super friendly. With 2 carseats in the back, we might as well say good-bye to taking on any passengers. This means that whenever we have family/friends come out to visit we are tied to taking 2 cars out, AND we will have to remove the carseats out of the 2nd car to fit everyone in (since I do drop-offs, S pickups, both cars are always ready with baby seating). This idea just sucks. Also depending where we go parking one car is hard, let alone two. Hence third row demand.

Unfortunately, I don’t know any any non-SUV, non-minivan can that fulfill that requirement, so here we are looking at monster mobiles.

Additionally, I’m seeing this vehicle staying with us for a minimum of 7-10 years. We’ll be shuttling the boys and their bikes/friends/sports gear. The extra space will be a real convenience. My sister called this purchase “soccer mommish”, and I’m thinking ‘Yeah? Have you met G?’ (we’re interviewing a soccer class for him today, btw)

I’m struggling with this purchase, however, on 3 fronts:
– size. I just can’t drive a large car. I’m very uncomfortable
– ecological awareness. It’s hard to go from a 32+mpg car to one that gets at best 20mpg.
– cost. 40K for a car! Really? That’s 1/4 of a house purchase in some places!!!

So we’re hunting.

The Pilot was first because we have 3 friends that ultimately purchased this car after doing shopping on their own. S and I like it, but I’m not in love (actually I have 1  gripe about the third row) and ready to plop down money just yet. I want to see what else is out there, but above all I need to face my gripes above.

Also, we’ve talked about just getting another small car (since mine will likely need a pretty costly set of repairs coming up soon due to age/mileage) and renting a big vehicle when we have car-less family/friends in town. We need to look into this more. And make some spreadsheets (duh). We’ve idealized this scenario for car trips in the past and have NEVER done it (we got a car-hitch on my Honda with a trailer instead), so we need to figure out how realistic this will be. And yeah, it will be a 1K/week cash drop for a rental fee, but overall, cheaper than a 40K purchase… I think.

If you have any cars you feel we must check out, holler. We’ll consider Ford, but not other American makes. I’m not sure I’m ready for a minivan, though. That’s a whole separate identity I’m not ready to face.

Because you end up with a small loaf of bread (to go with the roasted bell peppers back home), Liverworst, Chicken Ramen and just because it was in the same aisle, Chicken Noodle Soup.

Why? All cravings I had on my way TO the store.

I make fun of S getting random stuff when he goes shopping, but I think I just lost my credibility.

… are what we’ll be, ‘cuz, uhmn…. we’re having another boy!!!

Last week when we were in Bulgaria we got an unexpected ultrasound. I had mentioned to my dad that I hadn’t felt the baby move, and that I was a little worried. In my defense, I acknowledged G moving at 17 weeks, and having heard that second + pregnancies you recognize motion as such earlier, I was getting a bit paranoid. Also, in my brilliant and optimal approach to packing I had decided to leave my fetal monitor at home and around hitting week 16 away, was regretting it.

I mentioned it to my dad because he and mom have a good friend who is a doctor and they were planning to see him while they were in town. All I wanted was access to his stethoscope. Instead I got a call from my mom Tue morning at 10am, telling us that his friend had made us an appointment with one of the country’s best OB’s and we needed to be in her office by noon. So let’s recap – I’m in a country I don’t know my way around, it’s 10am and we’re still crawling out of bed in PJs and I need to navigate my way to a hospital whose address I don’t know to make it for a “I can fit you in if you show up within 2 hours” appointment. Not to even mention my insurance policy doesn’t extend benefits for non-emergency procedures internationally, and I had no idea how much this visit was going to cost me. However after my mom’s friend assured me it would cost 80lev (about $55 US), I consented… since I knew that if we get an u/s, there’s a chance that we could find out the gender, and I so happened to have 80lev (plus the necessary cab fare).

The appointment went well. Actually I was impressed that it ended up being a full fetal scan. She noted my placenta has moved to the posterior, measured all of the limbs, examined all of the organs, looked for cleft lip, and confirmed that this little dude is in good shape. I got to hear the heartbeat too 🙂

Then she said “So you have one son already? Looks like he’ll have a brother” S asked “Are you sure?”; She “100% sure”. With 25 years of experience staring at ultrasound machines, and being touted as one of the best in the country I’d like to trust her… but having experienced the wonders of Bulgarian health care with my sister’s and grandfather’s treatment over the last 5 years, I think I’m going to hold out on full and final validation for our fetal scan in July. So right now I’m 90% confident we’re having a boy.

His name will be Storm (one of the few times you’ll see it fully written out so take note). S was quick to point out that when he starts running around we’ll be Storm Chasers. We’re having t-shirts made. I’m not really sure what his nick-name will be. It’s already short. S is suggesting “Windy”… or “Cat-5” (since his middle name will be V like G’s). We’re open for suggestions, so share if you’ve got ’em.

I’m also not really sure yet how he’ll be referred to here as well. He might be S2 (as to not be confused with S), or l-S (for little S). I just don’t know yet.

Little S’ mug shot is coming soon. As soon as my jet lag lets me stay up long enough to actually scan it in, that is 🙂

How far along: 17w
Weight: me = 128.4lb; baby = 150g (per u/s);
Sleep: Just got back from a whole other timezone. Sleeping arrangements were changed. Overall well, but ask me how we acclimate in a week
Gender: TBD
Movement: Sometimes I think I feel stuff, and then since it’s nothing like what I remember I think it’s just gas.
Feeling: Good! I had two weeks of feeling pretty good and no yaking. Hopefully that wasn’t a travel fluke, so this week will tell.
What I am looking forward to: Movement that’s for sure.
Weekly Wisdom: Telling your dad that you are worried that you hadn’t felt the baby move yet, and asking to visit his doctor friend for his stethoscope results with a same-day appointment with one of Sofia’s top OBs. And a fetal scan. Not a bad deal if you can get it 🙂
Milestones: Had an unexpected fetal scan last week. Kiddo looks good. All limbs look good, organs look OK, no cleft lip. Looking forward to my long fetal scan here in a few weeks.
Food cravings: Meat-free dishes.
Fetal development:
Your baby’s skeleton is changing from soft cartilage to bone, and the umbilical cord — the lifeline to the placenta — is growing stronger and thicker. Your baby weighs 5 ounces now (about as much as a turnip), and it’s around 5 inches long from head to bottom. The baby can move its joints, and the sweat glands are starting to develop.

(belly pic to come soon)

I’ve been away for awhile, but with good reason: we’re out of town. Let me elaborate: we’re more or less on the other side of the world, in a timezone 10 hours ahead.

While this trip so far has been easy in some respects, it’s been brutal in others and I’m having serious thoughts about doing another family trip of this magnitude with any child under the age of 5. We did this cross-over with a ratio of 3 adults to 1 toddler and I admire anyone that can do it in less. As far as I’m conserned 2 kids ounumber 2 parents on these types of journeys.

I’m envious of parents that have the luxury of road trips. Right now an 8 hour drive in a private space, and option to pull over sounds heavenly.

20 hour travel day: one 14hr flight, followed by a 3hr lay-over, followed by another 3 hour flight on the other hand? Not so much fun. As an adult, this is a tiring trip. I don’t blame my toddler for having his scram-fest fits.

G did pretty well flying actually. It helped that our trans-Atlantic flight was a red-eye and he slept through just about all of it. The carseat onboard was def. helpful, but he couldn’t sleep in it comfortably. Well, if you sat, restrained for 4 hours in one spot, you’d get pissy too. MY butt hurt after sitting that long, and I could shift my bum around. His 5 point harness on the other hand, didn’t give him that option. So he slept in my lap for a good few hours, pretty much sprawled out. It was the best sleep he had on that flight. Me? Not so much.

The time shift has been difficult. G’s been waking up routinely for 2 hours each night from 2-4am wanting to play. It’s been brutal. His naps are all over the place too, and I’m torn between keeping him on his regular schedule or following the sleep-begets-sleep rule. He’s been bed sharing with us too, which is also challenging (He can’t seem to sleep in his pack and play.)… for the parents mostly. G does 360s in his sleep. And kicks. I have a nice, welty bruise on my arm courtesty of a size 5 foot. S avoided a black eye last night, by miracle, as G slept with his head in my arm-pit and feet at S’ face. As I write, his feet are at the headboard and he’s literaly upside down. But he’s at least sleeping.
I am starting to wonder if our son really sleeps through the night. Or if he wakes up and chills out in his room without asking for us.
I’m also realizing that he’s not ready yet for a big boy bed. I was hoping that when the baby arrives it would move into the crib and G in a big-boy bed, but observing his sleep patterns these last few nights rules this out for me. He sleep-crawls/walks on the bed, and those little side rails won’t keep him from falling off the bed. S used to sleep walk as a child, and I think G might be too. I also have no idea how to keep him in said bed until he falls asleep. Luckily we have until Nov to figure this out, but my grand designs about using this trip as big bed training is a massive fail. And here I thought G would sleep in the other apartment room by himself. HA!

On the bonus side though, he is doing SO well culturally. He’s eating the food, which is a big bonus. My family adores him and he’s been so good to them. He also got to meet some new cousins, which is really heart-warming for me. He’s been in a great mood while awake, even given his lack of toys.

Now here are two travel tips I’ll put out there for parents. Bring masking tape and balloons.

In my McGuiver thinking, I knew we needed to child proof the apartment we rented. We can’t do anything permanent and with no international guidelene you can’t exactly bring outlet plugs from home, or know how many you’ll need. Hence the
masking tape. You spend 15 min covering outlets, taping down drawers and cabinet doors. It peels off easy, without taking the paint off too. My curious toddler isn’t onto this yet, and hasn’t managed to open anything I didn’t want him to. AND he’s tried! No, don’t do this at home, but in a travel pinch it works.

Item 2: balloons. They pack small, and when blown up give you hours of chase around, safe fun. Safe as in ‘it keeps the electronics safe’ from harder items thrown at them 🙂 I thank S for that idea.

So there you have it. My thoughts on the first few days. We have a memorial service to get through (which as it turns out G and I can’t go to – bad juju for pregnant women and kids under 3 to go to a cemetery here) and another week, but we’re getting by.

On my side, I am having somewhat of an identity crisis, but I need some more self reflection before I can share my thoughts. S and I are doing great, but I’m struggling with how I define myself culturally.

On the baby front, things are OK, I guess. Still no kicks, and I’m hoping that’s just the anterior placenta talking. I shouldda brought my monitor. I could use the peace of mind right now, rather than plotting which one of my mom’s doctor friends I can visit for their stethoscope. Silly me.

How far along: 14w (ok, 14w2d ‘cuz I slacked on getting a belly pic, but hey — we’re here)
Weight: 128.2lb
Sleep: Lots of sleep, but also lots of wake-ups.
Gender: TBD
Movement: Not yet, but I think we’re getting close. I think in another 2 weeks or so, I’ll have my official “bubbles”
Feeling: Blah. Zofran prescription is extended for another few weeks.
What I am looking forward to: Another clean blood screen
Weekly Wisdom: Sleeping through nausea helps, but being awake before 6am due to the 9+ hrs of sleep doesn’t help get through the day. It makes for a vicious cycle of tired, and icky, and did I say tired?
Milestones: Out of the first trimester anyway you slice it!!! Oh, and the boob faerie paid me a visit. My girls are no-where close to what they used to be like nursing post-partum, but I’m seeing some signs of them returning. Hurray! I missed them!!!
Food cravings: Fruits more and more. Lots of food aversions still, though
Fetal development:
Our baby can now squint, frown, grimace, pee (the wonders of what goes on inside me!), and possibly suck its thumb! Thanks to brain impulses, its facial muscles are getting a workout as its tiny features form one expression after another. Its kidneys are producing urine, which it releases into the amniotic fluid around him — a process s/he’ll keep up until birth. S/He can grasp, too.

In other news: The baby’s stretching out. From head to bottom, it measures 3 1/2 inches — about the size of a lemon — and it weighs 1 1/2 ounces. Its body’s growing faster than its head, which now sits upon a more distinct neck. By the end of this week, its arms will have grown to a length that’s in proportion to the rest of its body. (Its legs still have some lengthening to do.) It’s starting to develop an ultra-fine, downy covering of hair, called lanugo, all over its body. The baby’s liver starts making bile this week — a sign that it’s doing its job right — and its spleen starts helping in the production of red blood cells. Though you can’t feel its tiny punches and kicks yet, our little pugilist’s hands and feet (which now measure about 1/2 inch long) are more flexible and active.