First Question

So I got my first "are you pregnant?" question today :) It was from a business acquaintence, not a complete stranger, but still noteworthy. As soon as she started saying "I don't want to seem rude or out of place, but..." I knew where it was going. Then she followed it with, "are you having twins?"!! ;) She has twins though, so I'm sure that's where the question was coming from, not a diss on my big ol' belly. I think its time for another belly pic soon...

Happy Birthday to Alan!

Today is Alan's birthday and we have been so busy I didn't even have time to get him a present! Our goal was to leave the office at 5pm, but alas, its 7pm and we're still here. We hired a Network Manager today though, so Alan is very happy to get him on board. Maybe that's the birthday present :)

We had quite an eventful weekend. Drove down to visit Jim and Julie in lovely Woburn, MA and got hit with 26" of snow overnight. The news called it Blizzard '05 and "The storm of the century!," which amused me. After we dug on on Sunday we drove up to Nashua, did some shopping at Target, and had a yummy birthday dinner with the Johnsons.

And today, for the first day ever, I'm wearing maternity pants!! I so badly wanted to wear jeans again (instead of my fancy pants or overalls) that I broke down and bought a pair of maternity jeans. They are very comfy (elastic and buttons in the back so I have room to grow), and they look like normal jeans as long as the waistband is covered. They're called "underbelly jeans" :) So far they fit around my belly, but I'm sure that will change soon enough.

And now, back to work until Alan takes me home and makes me stir-fry for dinner (happy birthday to him!)

SMA - 1/18/05

SMA = Shared Medical Appointment. This is either all the rage or my hospita'ls brain child, not sure, but I liked it. We had an appointment with a midwife, a nurse, and 4 other women all due around the same time. There was a side room where the midwife did a brief exam, and then we all chatted about issues and concerns. I thought it was a lot more interesting than a regular one-on-one at the hospital.

The checkup went well. My fundal height (bonus points to those who know what that is!) was exactly where it should be (23cm) and I've only gained 10 pounds in total (though I lost a few at the beginning) and most of that weight came during the last month. Gotta love the holidays!

The midwife told the nurse that I was delivered by Ina May and that sparked a whole new round of questions :) The nurse said Ina May was in the area last year. All the midwives met her and apparently the whole thing was great. I feel famous by association :)

Belly Pic - 21 weeks

At 21 weeks we decided to take a belly picture. I finally started feeling like my belly looks pregnant, not just fat. That feeling comes and goes sometimes, but I'm sure it will get more frequent as time goes on.

Some of the belly pictures in magazines and web sites are just amazing. I can't even comprehend my belly getting that big!

Milestones to-date

09/20/04 - Postive pregnancy test (yay!)
11/19/04 - Good strong heartbeat
12/17/04 - Ultrasound
12/27/04 - I felt the baby kick
12/29/04 - Alan felt the baby kick!

The story so far... (part II)

Group appointment - 10/13/04
Our first appointment with midwives was in October. The first appointment was just a group informational session. Alan and I and several other pregnant women were there. One of the midwives told us how things work with the midwives and the birthing center at the hospital. She also went through a presentation with basic information about pregnancy, what to do, what not to do, and what tests we may be presented with during the pregnancy. It was interesting. They also did a tour of the birthing center at the end, but Alan and I were running late for a flight to DC, so we had to leave before the tour. I think we get another chance to take a tour during a childbirth class. Hopefully anyway :)

First appointment - 10/25/04
The following week I went in for a blood test (standard procedure) and everything came back perfectly normal. The following week was my first private appointment. At that time the midwife complimented me on my great numbers (iron levels, blood pressure, etc.) from the blood test.

Mom told me to tell the midwives that I was delivered by Ina May Gaskin. I never thought they would care, but it came up in conversation, so I mentioned it at my appointment. She thought it was awesome! She had all sorts of questions and said "The other midwives will be so excited!" I laughed and said, "I think my mom is going to be more popular at this birth than I am." ;)

At this appointment we tried to hear the baby's heartbeat, but couldn't. It was only 10 1/2 weeks though, and the midwife said that there's nothing to worry about.

Third appointment - 11/19/04
We got a heartbeat! Yay! This was a pretty short appointment actually. She just did a checkup and let us hear the heartbeat. It was very cool.

Fourth appointment - 12/17/04
On December 17th we went in for the 18 week ultrasound. Some doctors do frequent ultrasounds, but the midwives here just do one for a normal healthy pregnancy. We went in and met with a radio technician and another in training. It was neat because the one lady was explaining all sorts of things to the other, so I feel like we got to learn a lot. One interesting point, you have to be significantly more precise when measuring babies because the proportion of the object (like the head) to the whole body is much great in a baby than say the proportion of a kidney in a grown up. She kept stressing the importance of being very precise with the measurements.

We decided that we don't want to know the sex of the baby before birth, so the technician was nice enough to not go "down there." But she did show us all the other parts. We saw hands and feet and head and ears and belly and all sorts of great things. It was very awesome.

Our next appointment is in 2 days so I'll try to post an update then.

The story so far... (part I)

Because the story is currently 22 weeks long, I may have to tell it in several separate posts.

Just starting out
Last spring Alan and I decided to start trying. The goal was to simply stop preventing and see what happened. The first month was a terrible tease. I have always been very regular, so when 5 weeks came and went with no cycle, we thought we had done it! No such luck. We ended up going through several 6-week cycles before my body figured out how to self regulate again. In June I had an regular annual appointment with the gyn and she said its completely normal for it to take many months after birth control. I think she was a good luck charm, because the following month was a normal 4-week cycle, and the following month we were pregnant! Yay!

The test - 9/20/04
We are now midway through September and I was getting eager to test again. On September 2oth I took another test. It was a little early (6 wks) but my family was coming to visit that weekend and I very much wanted to tell them in person. This time my body cooperated and the test was positive. Yay! I went into the other room and told Alan, "I think we did it." He was happy and bouncy :) The next morning I called the midwife group at the hospital and they scheduled me for an appointment in October. I thought it was strange that they didn't want to see me immediately, but they said its normal and there is no need to come in as long as I'm feeling fine.

Telling the families - 9/24/04
As I said, my parents were coming to visit that weekend so we got to tell them in person, along with my aunt and grandpa. Alan used the line, "Hey, so guess what? Barney is going to be an uncle!" I loved reactions. Lots of hugs and tears.

On Sunday we drove down to have dinner with Alan's family. He used the same line again and (after a bit longer of a thought delay) there were lots more hugs and tears.

Intro

We are nearing the pregnancy halfway mark and I keep meaning to put up a website. Time seems to fly by though, so today I thought I'd try a blog. Hopefully it will be quick and easy to update :)