Tales from the Gym

I felt really good to get back in the gym last night. After 30 minutes of brisk hill walking on the treadmill, I felt jazzed enough to do 10 minutes on the recumbent bike, which stretched out my hips and thighs something wonderful. I had no idea how much I'd missed the feeling until I was back there again. I had to dial down my intensity just a hair about halfway through, but otherwise everything was fine. I looked like a beached whale, but at least that will keep me motivated for a while. Of course, none of that negates the chinese food I ordered when I got home. But I told myself this morning that I did better, diet-wise, yesterday than I had the day before -- salad and greek yogurt for lunch, very little sweets -- and today I would do better than yesterday. That's all you really can do, right?

Tonight we're supposed to be having mexican food with my mom for dinner. I'd better be careful during the day.

Vyla was kicking a lot this morning, from all angles. That was weird. I'm super exhausted and really glad that tomorrow is a holiday.

26 Weeks

I'm caving to the pressure of my original due date and going with Wednesdays instead of Fridays as my week markers. So today is 26 weeks, and below is the info from BabyCenter about what's going on in there:

   The network of nerves in your baby's ears is better developed and more sensitive than before. She may now be able to hear both your voice and your partner's as you chat with each other. She's inhaling and exhaling small amounts of amniotic fluid, which is essential for the development of her lungs. These so-called breathing movements are also good practice for when she's born and takes that first gulp of air. And she's continuing to put on baby fat. She now weighs about a pound and two-thirds and measures 14 inches (an English hothouse cucumber) from head to heel. 

Baby:

 Cucumber:

 Yesterday I went to Motherhood and bought a sackful of new maternity clothes. I love post-Christmas sales! I got three new pairs of pants, a dress, and 2 or 3 new tops, all for under $200. Plus a coupon for later and a restaurant gift card or something. So I sort of cleaned up! It's so nice to be wearing things that fit now. My pants were just getting way too tight. I feel stylish and cute again, and, especially with my newly done nails, I feel much better about myself, and that's way more important right now than I had realized.

Which reminds me, I'm finally going to the gym tonight. Brought a packed bag to work and all. No excuses, now.

Post Christmas News

Okay gang,
I'm taking a quick break from work to update everyone, as some exciting new developments have occurred. As many of you will already have heard, Mr. Duttera made our forever official on Christmas morning, when he got down on one knee and presented me with a beautiful diamond ring.

I have, of course, already started pouring through the magazines and making notes for things. No date yet, but I'll keep you all posted.

Meanwhile, Violet had the hiccups again this morning, and rather violently I must say. She's obviously opposed to me sneaking in 5 more minutes before dragging myself out of bed. I don't like the implications of that.

I'm at 25.5 weeks now, which is technically only 5.5 months, and somehow that count doesn't sound right to me, not if my due date is April 6th. That sound like I should be due sometime later in April. Hmm. I'll have to check those numbers. Here's what the BabyCenter email had to say about baby's development this week:

How your baby's growing

Head to heels, your baby now measures about 13 1/2 inches. Her weight — a pound and a half — isn't much more than an average rutabaga, but she's beginning to exchange her long, lean look for some baby fat. As she does, her wrinkled skin will begin to smooth out and she'll start to look more and more like a newborn. She's also growing more hair — and if you could see it, you'd now be able to discern its color and texture.

I wonder what color that hair will eventually be. There's a fair chance she could have some red in her hair -- Shawn has a lot of it.

As exciting as all the wedding stuff is, I feel like I need to refocus to baby, since I only have a few more months to enjoy being preggo and getting ready for her arrival. Then I can transition to wedding planning to my heart's content.

Waking Up

I don't know why I'm actually up this early. I took a shower last night so I don't need the extra time or anything. But I'm not overly exhausted, and going back to sleep would just mean having to rouse myself from semi-REM sleep again in a few minutes, and my hips are hurting already anyway. I slept on the other side of the bed last night, since I was trying to watch South Park on my laptop and it was easier to do that from the other side. But that side doesn't have my comfortable rut in it, and I spent most of the night trying to readjust myself so I didn't roll away. Now I'm sitting at the computer in the front room, having actually risen with the alarm, waking up slowing to the internet and pointing the water bottle at the cat every two minutes as he tries to get into Christmas decorations that are, in fact, not toys for him.

Shawn bought us a PS3 over the weekend, as well as a wireless router, and it finally feels like we're not just faking it as adults. I know, that's lame. But I can get online in any room of my house, I can stream my Netflix to the tv, which makes it feel like we have more than 10 channels to chose from, and Shawn feels like he has something nice, which is, sadly, a rarity for him these days.

I spent the weekend baking Christmas cookies with Megan, and managed not to eat too many of them in the process. Baby enjoyed the few I did have, though.

Tonight I must finish my Christmas shopping. Shawn is probably going to shop for the kids today, if he gets up in time to take me to work so he can use the car. It's so fun to have kids to shop for this year. And next year, I will have my kid!

You know, I've been hitting the place in this pregnancy in which I keep having feelings of, what the heck am I doing? Perhaps it's all finally settling in. I'm going to have an actual child to care for, not just a baby to play with. I don't doubt my ability, but it's just a big reality starting to sink in.

In any event, I hope to also hit the gym tonight for the first time in several weeks. I signed up again last week, and I just didn't have any time to myself after Wednesday night.

Also, I dreamed about Tim McGraw last night. Explain.

Belly Pop Pictures

I have been terribly remiss it posting to the blog, and I have a bunch of things to update on, but the notebook with all those notes is in the car, and that's not at home right now. So I'll make do with updating photos and inserting some info on week 24, which is where we've progressed to by now. 


First, from BabyCenter:

Your baby's growing steadily, having gained about 4 ounces since last week. That puts her at just over a pound. Since she's almost a foot long (picture an ear of corn), she cuts a pretty lean figure at this point, but her body is filling out proportionally and she'll soon start to plump up. Her brain is also growing quickly now, and her taste buds are continuing to develop. Her lungs are developing "branches" of the respiratory "tree" as well as cells that produce surfactant, a substance that will help her air sacs inflate once she hits the outside world. Her skin is still thin and translucent, but that will start to change soon.


***
She certainly is kicking like a little demon. I can feel her more and more during the day now, and this morning it actually hurt when she kicked/punched me in the side while I was trying to sleep in. Here are some more pictures of the belly:

The top one is 22 weeks, and the bottom is 23 weeks. As you can see, it really popped out in a week. 24 week picture will be coming in a couple of days.

22 Weeks and New Doctor

My Kaiser appointment went well, I really liked the doc. She was very thorough and attentive, and fit us in at the end of her rotation since we were an hour late. We got lost on the way there and then couldn't find parking and it was super busy. She gave me a whole rundown of how my care would proceed for the weeks to come, what would be done in my next appointments. She asked Shawn and I a bunch of questions about our family medical history and so on, we listened to the baby again, and she answered all my questions. Right away I had a better feeling from her than I ever had from Farney. Even the medical assistants were so nice and helpful when scheduling my next appointments. I have an appointment coming up dedicated solely to having a nurse give me a rundown of questions about medical history and so on. A whole appointment dedicated to that. I can't even remember when/what Farney asked me about my medical history. My big ultrasound appointment is on Wednesday at 8am, when the radiology tech will do all the anatomy measurements and so on, and confirm the baby's gender.

Dr. Hayes also measured my tummy and said my belly size was right on target for where it should be, and told me about some other genetic tests that I might like to do (which Farney never mentioned, despite his two long speeches about how common miscarriage was in the beginning on the pregnancy -- he was awfully lax about some important tests and procedures later on).

When we were listening to the baby, we kept hearing these little pops on the doppler machine -- baby was kicking at the wand where it was pressing on her(him) in my tummy. Hehe, silly baby.

Confirmation of gender and other interesting news to come on Wednesday.

22 Weeks:

A Jolly Xmas Day

I have an appointment with my new Kaiser doc on Monday, December 6th, at 10am. I got a female doctor, but after looking at her profile it looks like she's a resident and not a full fledged doc yet. Which is cool with me, her profile looks like she's a cool lady, and one of the questions I've written down for her is whether or not a doc will be shadowing her and so on.

Baby has been kicking more and more these days, a lot at night and in the morning, but lately I've also been feeling kicks after eating, which I've heard is what they do. Of course, I've also been getting heartburn on a pretty regular basis during the day. It doesn't really matter what I eat, it gives me heartburn anyway. But it's not super bad heartburn, so I just chug water and deal with it.

I got a cute new journal last night, and I'm going to use it as my pregnancy journal. I got the idea from a friend of mine who said she had used one, and kept records of questions she wanted to ask the doc, random thoughts, and so on. The one I got is super cute, it has little rainbow colored dolls all over it, like those Russian nesting dolls. Shawn and I also went to the bookstore and Walgreens tonight and got more xmas stuff -- garland for the tree, two new music cds, and some towels and pot holders for the kitchen. Walgreens had all kinds of xmas stuff for cheap, so I didn't feel bad, we didn't even spend $20 there and got a bunch of cute stuff. I got a new stocking, too, red and knitted. And I officially have one present under my tree, and another one that needs to be wrapped. Yay, Christmas!!

Finally, my stomach feels huge tonight. I took a picture of it, just to document, cause it feels more ginormous than usual.

Worry of the Day

Sometimes I am so tired at night that I fall asleep without taking my prenatal vitamins and calcium. Am I going to ruin the baby? Concerned in a vague sort of way.

I'm also waiting for Kaiser to call me back and schedule my first appointment with them in December. I'm excited for it, because I'm hoping to do another ultrasound that day, and confirm the gender of this little sprout.

Okay, busy day at work. Back to business...

More Thoughts on New Doctor

The more I talk to friends about my experience with this doctor, the more glad I am that I'm switching. I'm realizing that there are a fair amount of things that haven't been done that should have been. He hasn't been measuring my abdomen, he didn't measure the baby at 17-18 weeks, and during my ultrasound this week, all he did was look at gender, when he was supposed to check out all kinds of other things. Every mom/pregnant lady I've talked to has raved about how much they love Kaiser and how thorough they are in their prenatal care.

Tomorrow I will being calling the Kaiser offices in the area and leaving them voicemails for Monday. There is an office in Alameda, so it would be nice if they were taking new patients. If not there's also an office in Oakland.

Lila's family baby shower was this afternoon. Sally did a really cute theme of a candy shop, it was fun. It was cool to see the whole family there, and it looks like she got lots of good things that she'll need. I'll have to see about getting her a little something else for christmas as well, since what I got for the shower was a bit small, I think. Even if I get her a bunch of diapers and wrap them, hehe.

Gender News

Ultrasound yesterday. The umbilical cord was in the way, but we're about 90% sure that it's a girl. So, until proven otherwise, it's baby Violet. I wasn't really happy with how the appointment went. Doc said the cord was in between the legs, so I keep wondering how he could even be "pretty sure" that it's a girl if the umbi-cord was blocking the bits anyway. I mean, in ultrasounds, it's basically, "girl until proven otherwise." But there was something in the way of seeing any evidence, so, I don't know. I'm going with girl for now, since that's all I've got. And most likely it will turn out to be true. But I still wonder if it won't turn out to be a boy. I was bummed that we couldn't be more, like, 100% sure about the gender. I'll have to ask for a second u/s, just to be sure.

I dunno, I've never really loved this doctor, and this appointment sort of sealed it. I'd heard from other gals that their docs have done all these tricks to make the baby move if it's in the wrong position, or told them to drink fruit juice to make the baby active, or whatever. My doc did none of that. He just said, oh, the cord is in the way. Like, what? It turns out I have to switch my insurance in December, so I'll have to find a new doc anyway.

Now, it's Thanksgiving, and I've stuffed myself on enough food to feel uncomfortably full, but I totally don't. I've already had a leftovers sandwich and some more pie. Hehe. I love being preggo on the holidays. So much good eatin'!

Violet's baby registry is on MyRegistry.com, and it's under my name, Katie Throckmorton. You may be able to find it under Shawn's name as well, since he's on there. Not sure if they make it searchable by both.

Dinner soon...

OMG, I'm freaking out. Only one more whole day at work, and then, not only do I have a 5 day weekend for Thanksgiving, but I get to have my ultrasound. Yay!!

I'm so jazzed.

I've started some prep for my Thanksgiving cooking. Boiling eggs for appetizers, and checking the ice cream to make sure it's still frozen, hehe. Can't wait!!

New Pics

Finally got the picture from 19 weeks loaded, as well as the 20 week picture from today. I had to pull up the picture from 15 weeks, just about when we started taking pictures, to convince myself that I'm actually getting bigger. It's such a small change from week to week, and I'm so anxious to get a preggo belly. Ha,  yeah, I say that now, until I can't tie my own shoes anymore. That's where flats come in!

19 weeks:

20 weeks:

20 Weeks

From BabyCenter.com:

Your baby weighs about 10 1/2 ounces now. He's also around 6 1/2 inches long from head to bottom and about 10 inches from head to heel — the length of a banana. (For the first 20 weeks, when a baby's legs are curled up against his torso and hard to measure, measurements are taken from the top of his head to his bottom — the "crown to rump" measurement. After 20 weeks, he's measured from head to toe.)

He's swallowing more these days, which is good practice for his digestive system. He's also producing meconium, a black, sticky by-product of digestion. This gooey substance will accumulate in his bowels, and you'll see it in his first soiled diaper (some babies pass meconium in the womb or during delivery).

That picture makes total sense. All the kicks I've been feeling have been in the low part of my abdomen, where this handy cartoon illustration shows the baby's feet. Look how serene it is in there. I bet it's thinking, "hehe, enjoy your heartburn, lady!" Little punk.

Happy Halfway Mark (and yesterday post th at I forgot to put up)

Happy Halfway Mark!! (Today)
Hello small creature!  You're halfway done! Congratulations on making it this far! You're starting to move more and more, and you're filling out the maternity clothes I have rather nicely. You're also giving me heartburn pretty much every day, which really isn't fair of you.

I have a coworker who is driving me nuts. I have heard this woman talk about how she never wants to have kids. She has a great relationship with her niece but doesn't want to have kids herself. So, of course, she takes it as her duty to lecture me all about how I should be eating spinach and kale and chard (shit that I wouldn't be eating anyway, except the spinach) and practically gives me dirty looks in the lunch room when I eat chips with my sandwich or something. First of all, she swears she's a health nut, and is trying to impose what amounts to a religion on someone with different beliefs. And second of all, pregnancy isn't for her, but she damn sure knows all about how to do it better than I do. You know how much I hate confrontation -- do I send an email about something like this? Like, Hi there, I know you mean well, but I have been reading the pregnancy books and talking to my doctor, and if anyone is going to give me advice on what to eat, it really ought to be him. 

Poop.

Still marking off the days on my calendar until ultrasound day. Five more to go!!!


Fears and Other Demons -- November 18, 2010
I’m starting to have moments of paranoia. Right now, my biggest fear is that we’ll go to the ultrasound on Wednesday with everyone there all excited to find out what the sex is, and instead, we’ll find out that it’s died. There’s no reason for me to think that, other than the fact that I don’t feel it moving much yet. But I do feel it moving, and every time I do, I’m like, yay, it IS still alive. I’m sure these aren’t uncommon fears, but they still suck. I just want him/her to be okay and healthy and doing his/her thing, regardless of whether it’s Max or Violet.

Speaking of names, I’ve made sure to tell Shawn that, once we do determine who’s in there, that baby is immediately going to become either "Max" or "Violet" to me, so if he isn’t sure about either of those names, now is the time to tell me and start thinking about something else. Because I’m not sure I could change it once I get attached to my Little Bean as one or the other.

I had a good day of healthy eating yesterday, capped by a delicious Mexican dinner. …sigh… I’m getting there, I swear! And Shawn and I both forgot that we’d wanted to workout last night. I was so exhausted that when we got home from dinner I sat on the couch with my laptop on the lap desk to write, and promptly fell asleep to the sounds of Shawn’s SoComm game, or however that’s spelled.

I got some money from dear old Dad to do some more maternity clothes shopping, and Shawn’s mom, Julie, is apparently gifting me with some as well. Thanks!!!! It’s so very appreciated, especially as I’m growing out of things so quickly. Lots of what I got from Nicole and Kim need little things to make them work right – a belt for this super cute dress from Kim, to keep my top half from melding with my belly as they both expand; flats to replace the heels that make up my shoe collection; a good winter coat; and so on.

Weight Gain...eep

According to my weekly email, I should have gained "about 10 pounds" by this, the halfway point in my pregnancy. Hmm. I've gained about 18. I thought I was only off by 2-3 pounds. Looks like I'm a bit higher than I thought. Well, good thing I've started eating healthier and scheduled a workout routine for myself. I am finally really feeling like myself again, practically no nausea in the mornings, nothing that affects my daily life. So there's no reason why I shouldn't be working out again.

Soul Train 2010

Baby was doing some crazy dance moves this afternoon. I might have bruises.

New Clothes!

Super big thanks to Nicole and Kim for donating two big bags of maternity clothes last night. I have seriously doubled my wardrobe. I wore a combination of both gals to work today -- Kim's khaki's, and Nicole's navy top. My own sparkly flip flops, hehe. Pops is giving me some money to stock up one some other things, like some outwear and a couple more pairs of work pants, and so on.

I had a dream last night that we were at the ultrasound appointment -- me and Shawn, my mom, Shawn's parents -- and we found out it was a boy. Premonition? Or resurfacing of everyone telling me it's going to be a boy? I don't know, and I'm trying desperately not to get my hopes up for one or the other. Also, I came up with a really fun way of breaking the big news to the folks waiting in the waiting room, in my dream, and when I woke up, I was like, huh, that's a really good idea. So now it shall come to pass.

Felt another little kick today, but he/she isn't terribly active yet, and least not that I can feel. Braxton-Hicks contractions from time to time, usually at night or first thing in the morning. Registered for a freakin' adorable bassinet online this afternoon. I'm jealous. I wish my bed was that cute.

Today is my one year anniversary with Shawn. We're celebrating by having a kid. Hehe. But seriously. I guess none of this has felt like a big deal to me because it seems like we've been together for so much longer than that. We both looked at each other last night and thought, really? Only one year? Time has gone in slow-mo for the last year. I suppose Thanksgiving is as good a time as any for all these things to come up. Cause no matter what, I really am happy and thankful for him in my life.

So, sappy moments aside, hope everyone has a wonderful evening, and I shall be back tomorrow with pictures of the belly at 19 weeks. Can't believe I'm encroaching on the halfway mark already. Christ. Slow down in there!!

19 Weeks

Officially 19 weeks today. See picture below.

Baby looks a little squished.

Shower tomorrow, for Lila, who is at 29 weeks. She'll be getting nice and big by now, so that's fun.
Meanwhile, I'm starving, so I should go feed.

First No-Foolin', I-Know-What-That-Was Kick

18w6d

There's no question this time. Just felt two kicks, down below the belly button where the baby is hanging out. Hello, small creature. Welcome to movement.

Seeing as I spent the morning being a hypochondriac about whether or not I was having a miscarriage (bear with me, I'm prone to these flights of fancy), I teared up a bit at the unexpected interior jabs.

Sneaky little devil.

Myself Again Today

18w5d

My weekly email from the Baby Center website contained the following update:

Hello, Katie!
Your baby weighs about 8 1/2 ounces, and measures 6 inches, head to bottom — about the size of a large heirloom tomato. The hair on her scalp is sprouting. This is a crucial time for sensory development: Your baby's brain is designating specialized areas for smell, taste, hearing, vision, and touch. Some research suggests that she may be able to hear your voice now, so don't be shy about reading aloud, talking to her, or singing a happy tune if the mood strikes you.

Don't be fooled by the use of gender in their email, they alternate every week. I haven't plugged in any information to the website that I'm not sharing with you! I get those updates every week, in theory on my weekly markers, but the dates I first put in were a little off. So it thinks I'm at 19 weeks, but I know that's not until Friday. Fridays are my week markers. I suppose at some point I could start thinking in terms of months, but weeks are easier to keep track of. Pic of baby at it's true age, 18w5d:

I'll post the 19 weeks image on Friday.

Some news this morning -- I am finally feeling like myself again. Though I had a moment or two of tummy-turning this morning, that was more due to being hungry than being nauseous. I was tired when I woke up, but not bone-tired. It seems I'm finally getting used to sleeping on my side because my hips didn't bother me all night, until about 6am, when the cats were waking me up anyway. So I was rested and able to get up in time to make toast, feed cats, dress, email myself something that I needed at work today, put make-up on, AND leave the house on time. Of course, my hair is still a disaster, but that's not really anything new.

Also, I made contact with a gal from Bananas, Inc., last night, which is a daycare referral service in the East Bay. She's going to be sending me some info on in-home day cares in Alameda. I'm really more comfortable with in-home care rather than a Montessori or something like that. My next step is to start checking out pediatricians. 

Belly Love

I can't help but post up this picture from last night. It's probably my favorite so far. You know how some pics of yourself you like, or are just sort of okay, and then there are those few that you just love so much you want to blow up and hang over your mantle? This is one of those. So indulge me.

I definitely had tacos for dinner last night. I don't feel guilty at all, since I haven't indulged in them in weeks. And my weight gain is progressing pretty much right on course. My morning sickness has mostly gone away, although I still feel sort of queasy when I first wake up in the morning. However, it's not usually bad enough to cause the puking any more.

I'm in serious need of new maternity clothes. It's becoming very difficult to dress for work in the morning. I think a trip to Target is in order. I'd like to get some nice sweater dresses to wear with leggings. Or maybe just a belly band so I can keep wearing my old jeans. But even those are getting a bit snug in the booty...hehe.

Speaking of which, I should probably do my pilates tonight. Can't let this weight gain get out of hand!

Brand New Blog

18w3d

Good morning!
Rather than clutter up the Facebook feed with news of baby that some folks may not care to read, I've created this blog for Baby Duttera, so that all the news and updates for this pregnancy can be compiled into one place. Pictures, countdowns, news, all that fun stuff.

Baby Duttera will officially be either Maximus or Violet beginning on November 24th, just in time for Thanksgiving. It will definitely be the thing I am thankful for this year.

So many changes in such quick succession, and yet they all seem like the right thing. Funny how we spend so much of our lives trying to make things happen, and yet when it's truly time for them, they happen on their own.

The baby showers are starting this weekend. Lila, who is 10 weeks ahead of me, has her first shower on Saturday. I can't wait! I need to get on the ball about putting a guest list together for my showers, as well, for those of you who are planning them. I'm so slow like that.

I thought I had felt baby kicking, but now I'm not so sure it was just intestinal issues -- I think the bubbles were too high up in my tummy, when the doc says baby is sitting below my belly button right now. I'll make sure to post when it's for real!