Hee hee

A couple days ago A was needing a hat for her "baby". Now her current favorite baby is that doll that was MY first doll. It's a "bathtub" doll, all hard plastic and apparently has a slightly larger than normal (for a doll) head because doll hats tend to be a tad small and combine that w/ no actual hair to hold it on, just slippery plastic, and it was NOT working. So I dug through the drawer of newborn clothes to find her a real baby hat that would be big enough. When I sorted through the baby clothes a few weeks ago I put all the newborn clothes in a drawer in our room but since it includes all the girly stuff AND all the gender neutral stuff (if baby's a girl, I'll weed out the gender neutral stuff, if baby's a boy, obviously, I'll weed out all the girly stuff) the drawer's kinda full. There's this rather odd wire hanging about an inch out from the wall near the ceiling in our room (best we can tell, it was part of some "headboard" type set-up the previous tenants had) and I'd figured out awhile ago that any "hanging clothes" for the baby could hang on that wire. So, while I was digging through the drawer looking for a hat, I pulled out some of the "outfits" and hung them on the wire to make more room in the drawer.

When dh got home that night, he took one look at the baby clothes & said "that's got to go" when I asked him why he said "it makes it all seem too real" LOL. I figure he better start figuring out it's real pretty soon! Only 3 1/2 months (give or take) to go!

Real Quick

This morning when I was trying to get the energy to get out of bed, L came in to ask me a question. Baby (whom L has dubbed "Plum" from when the pregnancy site described the baby as being the size of a plum) was kicking right at the middle of my stomach when L came in, so I took her hand and put it where Plum had been kicking. Apparently Plum either doesn't perform on command or was tired of kicking because we didn't get much, but she did get to feel one small kick. She was very excited, and A was disappointed that by the time she got there and had her hand on my stomach, Plum was back to kicking my bladder.

Midwife Appointment

We had our 3rd midwife appointment yesterday. The girls were very excited to find that the midwife was running way behind, they LOVE the waldorf toys in the waiting room, so were happy as clams to have longer to play LOL.

Routine appointment, I'd gained 7 lbs but it's been 6 weeks and it's been a 6 weeks that's included a LOT of baby growth, and during those 6 weeks I went from not really looking pregnant to being very definitely pregnant, so I guess it's all good. We heard the baby's heartbeat again, 140 bpm.

Next appointment is in early January and we'll do the glucose screening at that appointment. The girls were thrilled to hear they'll have a whole HOUR to play in the waiting room since I have to drink the sugar gunk then wait an hour and have my blood drawn. Considering how much they enjoy the toys, it should be fine, but I'll probably make sure dh is available to come get them and take them home if, for whatever reason, it does NOT work for them to be there that long.

Also yesterday was the first time that I for sure felt a kick that could be felt from the outside. I've been feeling lots of movement but it's been mostly concentrated down (on my bladder, sigh) and even the ones that are toward the front, have been soft enough that I haven't figured anyone could feel them from the outside (and to confirm that, night before last A was in bed w/ us & had snuggled right up against me, baby was kicking right into her back and she didn't notice). But last night I had my arm laying across my stomach and the baby gave a good hard kick that I certainly felt. The girls were asleep and dh was still downstairs so I didn't bother trying to let anyone else feel it, but now I know to be paying attention for kicks that they can feel if they ARE around.

I'd Forgotten . . .

I'd forgotten how tiny newborn diapers are!!! While we were visiting my parents this weekend the girls & I spent a couple hours visiting my friend Kim and her family (the girls always have a blast playing w/ her kids). While we were there Kim offered me some newborn size diapers that she no longer needs. I pulled them out when we got home and they are SOO TINY!! And yet, they were almost too big for the girls when they were born. Granted, I fully expect this baby to be significantly larger than my month early twins were, but still . . . it's easy to forget how tiny newborns are.

In other news, the girls have gone from being ambivalent about gender of the new baby to both saying they hope it's a girl. I'm reminding them repeatedly that it could be a boy (I made the mistake of commenting to someone, in the girls' presence, that if the old wives tale about heartbeat speed is correct, than it's a girl (old wives tale states that hb over 140 = girls, hb at our last appointment was 150), and the girls really latched onto that and are insisting it IS true), but they insist it IS a girl. So hopefully they won't be too disappointed if it does end up being a boy.

In the TMI category

The baby (whom L has named "plum" from several weeks back when the pregnancy journal thing's description of the baby at that week's gestation described it as being near the size of a plum) had apparently decided that my bladder makes a great trampoline, sigh . . . The one thing that keeps it from driving me totally insane is that I keep reminding myself that at least this time the baby can't both jump on my bladder AND cram itself up under my rib cage at the same time, like the girls were so fond of working together to accomplish, sigh . . . :)

No kicks that could be felt from the outside yet (mainly because they're very much centered on my bladder) the girls are anxiously waiting to be able to feel the kicks for themselves :)

A Couple Notes on our Trip

We got back last night from a week & a half of traveling. We went to my parents', then all headed to Jamestown & Busch Gardens Williamsburg, then drove on down to Orlando for a week of Disney & Sea World, then back home.

Overall, I did alot better than I expected. I wasn't sure how my energy levels would hold up w/ days and days of constant walking & "going" but I really wasn't any more tired than I was last year when I wasn't pregnant. I think it did help some that, w/ my parents along, I could sit out the "kid rides" (kids wanted Mama & Papa to go w/ them on those) so I got short rests if I could find somewhere to sit near the ride. But really it wasn't bad at all.

By far my biggest complaints weren't pregnancy related, I started the trip congested, and about that time that cleared up, I somehow managed to get poison ivy (or something similar) ALL over my face/neck/chest!! I spent the week whining about being itchy, sigh . . . those patches have mostly cleared up but now I have random little patches scattered over the rest of me, so I'm STILL whining about being itchy. Need to re-vist the sites w/ natural remedies and see what other options I want to try now that I'm home. Anyway . . . pregnancy really didn't slow me down at all on this trip, other than a few more bathroom trips than normal LOL. On Friday, I was TIRED and just kind of ached all over, so I think I'd over done it by then, but dh was also complaining about being tired & achy & he's not pregnant, so I think it was just 5 1/2 days of straight amusement parks.

I also am pretty sure I'm starting to feel the baby. It's only at night, and generally when I'm on my left side (almost as if baby doesn't like me laying on my left side, sigh . . . not only is that the "recommended" sleeping position during pregnancy, it's also the position I find most comfortable, pregnant or not, so I'm going to be whining a BUNCH if baby doesn't decide it's an acceptable sleeping position here soon LOL).

Midwife Appointment

Our 2nd midwife appointment was this afternoon. Everything looks good. We heard the heartbeat loud & strong, though little wiggleworm kept running away from the dopler LOL. Heartbeat was around 150 for those who like to make predictions based on such things LOL. I'm measuring on target (it was at 16 weeks last time that the midwife mentioned that I was "measuring abit big" . . . )

Everything else looks fine (blood pressure, blood work from last time, all that good stuff). I've gained 6 lbs in the past 6 weeks.

We met the 2nd midwife today, I liked her too, so whichever midwife we end up with, I'll be happy :) She was nice about explaining things to the girls, even let them feel the jelly stuff they use on the dopler when they asked about it.

She also gave me a recommendation for a pediatrician. It's about 45 min from here, but they are ok w/ selective/delayed/no vax, are breastfeeding friendly . . . they are also a family practice so, while I'll probably keep using the birth center for gyn since it's so close, we could use this practice for our whole family, as needed. AND they use natural methods, homeopathics, nutrition . . . to treat things, which is, obviously, in line with my beliefs about such things :) So, I'm thinking we'll go with them.

As we were leaving she gave us a handout that shows the baby at actual size each month during gestation, which the girls LOVE (and I think it's pretty cool too LOL).

Next appointment is Dec 1.

I'm not doing so well at keeping up am I?

What can I say, it's been an uneventful pregnancy, and I'm busy w/ the girls, so not alot of time to sit around contemplating baby LOL.

Our 2nd midwife appointment is Monday, I'm anxious to hear the heartbeat, have the girls hear the heartbeat, and find out exactly where my uterus is located at the moment LOL. I keep feeling twinges that MIGHT be baby movement, but some of them I KNOW are too high (so just stuff shifting around to make room for the uterus I guess?) and others, I'm just not sure, cuz I'm not sure how high my uterus currently is.

I suppose I ought to take a belly picture here sometime soon. Though really I don't think I look pregnant (just fat LOL) unless I pull my clothes tighter around my belly . . .

My energy levels are much higher than they were in the first trimester. I still get tired if I try to go ALL day w/o sitting down to rest, but I can do a good bit in a day w/o any trouble. Good thing, since my to do list for our upcoming trip is rather ummm . . .LONG still LOL. DH is taking the girls to his mom's on Sunday so I'm hoping to get alot done while they're gone.

My appetite has also really picked up. No idea how much weight I've gained (our scale needs a new battery), will find that out on Monday too. But I'm definitely eating more & feeling hungry more often. Which is a good thing, I don't like that, early in pregnancy, I have so little appetite, I know the baby needs nutrients, but I also believe it's important to "listen to my body" and it's telling me not to eat much . . . so I'm happier now that my brain AND my body are telling me I need to eat plenty of healthy foods LOL.

I'm Still Here!

Just not keeping up with . . . life very well LOL. While I was very doubtful that I'd magically get my energy back when I hit 12 weeks, I DO think it's slowly returning. Monday I think I totally overdid it. We were at my parents' this weekend and came home Monday. So I got up on Monday, loaded kids & stuff into the car, went w/ my grandparents to get a bushel of apples from the orchard they go to (yum! My kids are loving that pretty much anytime they ask, I tell them to go on down to the basement & grab an apple, hee hee). Then we went to a friend's house, hung out & chatted while kids played, then she offered me some garden stuff if I picked it (she's 30+ weeks pregnant so not doing so much gardening herself at this point and her dh hasn't been able to keep up with the garden thanks to his work schedule), so I picked some tomatoes and such. Met my parents for lunch, then drove home. Got home still feeling pretty good, figured I'd unload the stuff that had to be unloaded (read fresh produce LOL), then sit down for awhile and check my e-mail & such, and then do some of the unpacking, kitchen cleaning, etc. that I needed to do. BUT my computer wouldn't connect to the internet so I figured I'd go ahead & do the kitchen cleaning & stuff right away so I could spend my evening (after dh fixed the internet) online. Apparently that was pushing my energy level abit to far (especially combined w/ the can that had had veggie hotdogs in it & I thought was empty & wasn't and stunk, and I've not done smells well this whole pregnancy). I threw up for only the 2nd time this pregnancy, and then just felt kind of "shakey" the rest of the day, alternately shivering and sweating, etc. Needless to say after cleaning up the bare minimum I DID sit down and rest, and just got up in small spurts the rest of the afternoon to get stuff done.

Yesterday & today I've had more energy, still trying to catch up from being gone, but definitely feeling more energetic than I have for the last several weeks. Today I even made tomato soup from scratch (YUMMY stuff!) which included running downstairs to stir it several times while we were doing school, and taking the scrap STRAIGHT to the compost since we've been battling fruit flies around here (because taking things up the hill to the compost has been one of those things I've not had energy to do as often as I should).

So . . . we have progress. I've promised the girls we'll go apple picking this fall, and I think that will be feasible by the time we've used up most of the apples we have. Now to see if the energy will hold for the thorough housecleaning that really needs to happen tomorrow!

I think I've got a sufficient maternity wardrobe now (once sewing is done). I already had plenty of shirts, a winter dressy dress, a s-sleeve (which I can wear year round, w/ a sweater if needed) knit casual dress, and a knit jumper. I ordered a dress & a jumper from a site I found that made clothes at reasonable prices, and they came a week or 2 ago. When I got them, I realized I needed a slip under them (which actually further increases my wardrobe because I have 2 drawstring skirts that I'd written off as not working during pregnancy since they require a slip & I didn't have a maternity slip. Doubt I'll wear them much since it's a winter pregnancy & they're summer skirts, but they'll be nice for FL next month which was my biggest concern since I really don't want to have to do laundry while we're there & wasn't sure how I'd manage 12 days w/o it LOL), so Mom's spoiling me and making me a slip. AND mom's b-day present to me was the promise to make a maternity dress or skirt, and I opted for a skirt since I have lots of shirts & nothing to wear them with. We went shopping this weekend and found a pattern & material, so mom's making me a black cordory skirt (which means I can wear it w/ casual stuff AND w/ a couple dressy blouses that I got from a friend, so I have more church options too). And she also agreed to turn a pair of maternity jeans into a skirt. We were going to use a 2nd pair of jeans for the extra material (pattern uses 1 pair of jeans plus the legs from a 2nd pair to make the kind of skirt I want) but while shopping for the other sewing stuff, found some fabric that will work well for that, so now that's all planned out as well. So . . . by the time my regular skirts stop fitting, I should have a denim skirt, black skirt, 2 jumpers & 2 dresses. Woo-hoo!!

The other thing I thought of to extend my FL trip wardrobe is to wear sweatpants on the days that we're just driving all day anyway, sweatpants are comfortable, but I don't like how I look in them (pregnant or not), but a day when pretty much my family and a handful of random strangers at rest area bathrooms are all that will see me, it's an option.

And finally, my birth pool (otherwise known as a wading pool LOL) came!! Woo-hoo!! Dad suggested that it would be faster to fill the pool using buckets in the tub (fill a bucket, set a 2nd bucket under the faucet to fill while you dump the first one . . . repeat ad nauseum) and would save having to buy (& figure out how to hook up) the sink thing & hosing. But I need to pin dh down on whether he's willing to do it since I COULD hook up the sink thing/hosing and set it to filling on my own, I'm thinking I probably won't feel like carrying around buckets of water while I'm in labor. . . so we need to figure that out sometime in the next 4 or 5 months LOL.

Planning Ahead

Something motivated me this weekend to do some real digging into the whole birth pool thing. At the orientation thingy (at the birth center) the nurse said they recently got a birth pool that can be used (either at the birth center or for a homebirth) but there's a rather hefty charge for using it. So I thought I'd look into what my other options were. First I looked into renting a birth pool on my own, but that's even more expensive (when you factor in shipping especially), so that made the birth center charge sound not so bad . . . but then I recalled vaguely that an online friend had talked about getting a kid's wading pool and using that for her birthing pool, so I went first back into the archives to see what she said about it, but could only find brief mention of ordering a wading pool, and then talk of testing in (older siblings love that "hey, lets go swimming in the house today!") and using it and such but nothing real nitty gritty on the specifics of it. Then (duh) I thought I'd go see what I could find on the homebirth forum at mothering.com (my overall assessment of the message boards at mothering.com . . . people tend to be quite untollerant of views that differ from their own, it's not someplace I'd go and post, looking for empathy/support/hugs/warm fuzzies HOWEVER it's an awesome resources for all things un-mainstream LOL) and lo & behold, w/o even having to hunt, there was a huge long sticky at the top of the forum about birthing pool options, including what kind of kiddie pools work well (inflatable, w/ inflatable bottom for some padding, in the 100 gal range so you don't run out of hot water filling it . . . ) links to specific ones that people have used w/ success, and great detail in the instructions on what you need & how to use it to fill & empty the pool (though after reading about the options for emptying the pool, I'm leaning toward opening a window & hanging a hose out of it LOL . . . I think we'll for sure do that if there's room to set it up in the bathroom (since that window opens to the backyard where draining a bunch of water would be no big deal for sure) if we have to set it up in the "school room" those windows open onto the front porch roof & the main sidewalk to the front door so that wouldn't work so well unless I could talk dh or dad into getting out on the roof or maybe it could be done from the ground w/ a longer hose?) and running the hose along the porch roof so it drained off hte end of the house not onto the sidewalk . . .) otherwise you waste SO much water running water through to drain it & w/ our slow draining tub (that I don't have much faith will be fixed by then, or ever LOL) that doesn't sound like a good option). Anyway . . . after reading through the whole thread, it seemed like a no brainer to by the $20 kiddie pool from amazon and the necessary "acquarium supplies" from petsmart (though I want to check w/ Dad and make sure he doesn't have any of them already before I buy those) and call it good for under $40! I debated trying to figure out when stores put out their summer stuff to see if I dared wait & get a pool from Toys-r-us (or wherever) next March, but finally decided not to risk it & went ahead & ordered it from Amazon.

So . . . the birthing pool, otherwise known as a kid's wading pool, is on it's way to us :)

While I was on the homebirth forum, I also found a massively huge (also stickied) thread about good things to have on hand for a homebirth, and read through that whole long list & wrote out my own list that is probably overkill (especially considering how short, easy my last labor was) but still . . . alot of it isn't so much buying anything as just making sure things are nearby or where others can find them (having a bowl nearby in case you need to throw up . . . things like that) and alot of the suggestions dealt w/ things to do for tears & such, to ease the pain post partum, which I don't remember being bad at all last time, and that was w/ less than ideal labor position (flat on my back), a doctor who looked at me like I'd lost my mind when I said no episiotomy, etc. Of course it was also w/ 5 lb babies and I'm sure this baby will be much bigger LOL. . . so I made note of all the suggestions and can use them IF I need them, but probably won't do much "prep work" in that regard . . .

Anyway . . . it felt good to be making some actual progress toward planning such things, and have the birth pool ordered so that's a major thing off the to do list.

Beyond that, nothing too exciting happening here. I'm running really low on energy, not at all helped by the fact that I am EXHAUSTED in the afternoon but can't get to sleep at night for the life of me! And weekends make it worse because dh is around so I CAN nap when I'm so tired in the afternoon but then I have an even harder time falling asleep at night, sigh . . .

Yesterday at bedtime I was telling the girls that, according to one site I read, the baby is now "about the size of a plum" so as she went up the ladder to her bed L said "goodnight my sweet little plum" awwww :)

First Midwife Appointment

Today was our first midwife appointment (it was supposed to be Thurs but the midwife had a conflict and called and asked if we could change it to today). Typical first appointment with lots of paperwork/talking.

The girls brought along their backpacks of toys plus there were a few toys in the exam room so they did pretty well, although near the end they were getting antsy, Robin (the midwife) said "I can always tell when my time is up" LOL. Then they were thoroughly interested during the actual exam. The difficulty she had even feeling my uterus compared to last pregnancy at 9 weeks makes me more confident that there's only one baby this time. She tried to find the heartbeat but couldn't (had warned me, and I knew from reading stuff, that we might or might not be able to hear it at this point) and said if I want we can stop by in a couple weeks and try again.

The girls were absolutely fascinated to see the nurse draw blood. A friend of mine had mentioned her dd had gotten upset when she saw that, but not my kids, they thought it was super cool LOL.

This practice does not typically do ultrasounds, which I'm ok w/, dh isn't so thrilled about that (he wants to know the gender, and to know for sure it's not twins, I prefer to NOT know the gender and figure we can figure out the twin thing based on size & such as time goes on), so we'll discuss it some more and decide.

So that's about it. Next appointment is 10/20 (not counting stopping in to check the heartbeat in a couple weeks). Midwife thought my dates seemed accurate (based on uterus size) so that's good to know :) She was thrilled to hear the girls had been born vaginally & that I'd breastfed them and such, commented that she doesn't know how our country got so far removed from breastfeeding being the norm, but that we need to get back to that. . .

Birth Center Orientation

Last night was the orientation for new patients thingy at the Birth Center. Random thoughts on it all . . .

• Waldorf toys in the waiting room. The girls had great fun cooking & such while we waited for it to start.
• Video telling me why midwives/birth centers are so wonderful was a waste of my time, thanks, I research things like that BEFORE I choose a midwife practice. Though the girls enjoyed the brief parts that showed a baby being born & such.
• The nurse doing the orientation/tour made a point many times that we always have the choice to opt out of things we don't want to do.
• When she listed the lab work they typically do, she didn't mention any u/s, not sure if she just wasn't thinking of that since it would be done off-site or if they don't typically do them (lab work they DO typically do is bloodwork at 1st appointment, blood draw for GD (whenever that's done, 28 wks?), and then culture for step B near the end.
• They WILL do waterbirths (woo-hoo) they have an inflatable pool that you can use at an additional charge or you can rent your own (I'm pretty sure a friend of mine used a kids' wading pool, I'm going to check w/ her on how that worked . . . though I would guess if we rented the one through the birth center, it would roll in w/the insurance stuff).
• 2/3 of their patients choose hospital births. She said they average about 1 homebirth per month (w/ the rest of the 1/3 non-hospital births being birth center births).
• No mention was made of the rule someone else told me about, where if someone else is in labor when I go into labor, I have to go to the BC rather than doing a homebirth.
• They have a sibling class they recommend if children will be at the birth, but it's normally on Sat. I figure I'll wait and ask during one of my appointments if they'd be willing to do a Sun (or weekday) one, or provide me w/ pertinent information to give the kids on my own.

During the video, and "talking" time, the girls had brought backpacks w/ coloring books and stuff, and were doing stuff at a small table in that room. I suggested that they leave the backpacks in the waiting room during the tour rather than carry them all around. When the nurse was going over more of their policies & such while we were in one of the birth rooms, A asked if she could go get her backpack, and pulled out a small piece of paper & a pen, "wrote" a little bit on the paper, and put everything back away. On the way home she explained that she'd been keeping a list of everything we did at that "appointment" and said she's going to keep adding to the list for the whole pregnancy :) Only she can"read" her list, but I thought it was cute LOL.

I'm Outgrowing My Clothes!!

Actually, most of them are still fine, the advantage of having a wardrobe of mostly elastic or drawstring waist skirts & loose t-shirts LOL. But this Sabbath I put on a skirt that I wear pretty often for church and by halfway through church the elastic was cutting into my skin to the point of being painful. So it's now in the "pack away till next summer" pile LOL. Nice to know it's not my imagination that my belly is growing though LOL (and since my weight has actually gone down slightly, it's not just that I'm eating too much).

Overall I'm feeling pretty good. The busy weekend last weekend (at my parents') really wore me out and made me appreciate the fact that most of the time our lifestyle lets me intersperse activity w/ sitting down and resting. And I continue to not deal well w/ having to eat so early in the morning on Sabbaths, that was actually worse this week I think, I felt icky/not hungry most of the day. But the rest of the time when I can wait till 9:30 or 10:00 to eat breakfast I do fine.

Last weekend when I was in MD, I got my maternity clothes back from Kim (the ones she borrowed) and borrowed hers too. As I expected/remembered, both boxes were mostly pants. I tried wearing a pair of the pants last week one day & while they fit fine and were comfortable, for pants, it made me realize that I'm just not comfortable wearing pants anymore! I'm hoping that some of my non-maternity skirts will last most, if not all, this pregnancy since they're stretchy/loose and trying to find the ambition to turn at least one pair of my maternity jeans into a skirt (to see how I like it, and how hard it really is). I'm also watching goodwill for maternity skirts/dresses but so far the few I've seen have been short, sigh . . . I did find a reasonably priced site online that makes modest dresses/jumpers and will modify for pregnancy &/or nursing for no extra charge so I ordered one dress and one jumper from her last week. And hoping to talk mom into making me at least one dress . . . so if need be I'll just make do with that (in the stuff I already have I have one casual dress & 2 "Sabbath" dresses, one short sleeved, one long sleeved) so that would give me 4 dresses for everyday, the only time that might not be enough is when we go to FL next month (leave here on Wed, don't get home till the following Sun night so that's 12 days) I'm assuming at least 2 of my non-maternity skirts will still fit me at that point (I'll only be 4 mo) and as long as that's the case I should be fine . . . and if I get ambitious and make the skirt out of the jeans, even better (if it's easy and I like how it looks I have several pair of maternity jeans that I could alter, so then I'd be set for sure).

In other clothing news, last fall I bought a modest swimsuit from Sewn by Di and I have LOVED it this summer for Sesame Place. I'm not comfortable wandering around all the time in a regular swimsuit (even a "modest" one) and it's a pain to have to take clothes on/off for every ride. But it occurred to me the last couple times I wore it (since being pregnant) that there's not an easy way to nurse in this suit w/o exposing my belly. Additionally it occurred to me that this suit WOULD work as a maternity swimsuit if the shirt part were longer (the skirt is stretchy enough that I think it will go over my belly for most of my pregnancy & w/ a longer shirt, the skirt could sit under my belly at the very end of pregnancy (though it's more likely that the only time I'll need a swimsuit this pregnancy (except now when it's a non-issue) is in FL and I think the skirt will still be fine then). So . . .I started thinking . . . it's not worth buying the longer length shirt just for the FL trip, BUT . . . if she could make one that is longer for while I"m pg and also adapted for nursing (there's a shelf bra in the shirt, if she just extends the fabric down beyond the bottom elastic of that so it's "fully lined" that would cover my belly & then a center slit in the shelf bra would give nursing access under cover of the outer layer) then I'd get at least 2-3 years use out of it (the girls weaned at age 3, no way of predicting when this baby will wean obviously . . . ) which would make it worthwhile. And since the skirt of my current suit is plain black I can just get a shirt and continue to use the same skirt. So, I e-mailed her this weekend & she said she can do that so now I just need to send her measurements and we're good to go :)

I think that's about all going on here. Tomorrow night we go to the Birth Center for orientation (oh and a friend of mine who lives an hour or so away said that she had a friend who used this practice and loved them and that she'd have used htis practice if she'd done a homebirth, so that makes me feel better about it, since I feel like I'm going into it blind LOL). And then next week is our first appointment.

Telling Mama & Papa . . . and all the rest

Yesterday, the girls & I met Mama & Papa for lunch. The girls were wearing their Big Sister shirts again, and proudly showed them to Mama & Papa. Mama & Papa read their shirts, and made appropriate "you did such a good job making those shirts" noises w/o actually figuring out WHAT the shirts were saying LOL. With some additional prompting they finally got it LOL. We had already planned to stop by their office after lunch so the girls could see Mandy (Papa's co-worker who has enjoyed seeing them since they were babies, whenever we stopped by), but with our news, Mama & Papa also found it necessary to take us to various other friends at their office and share their news.

After that the girls & I went to the outlets and L was excited to find that the Plow & Hearth outlet STILL had the "horse-in-a-box" she remembered from several months ago and wanted to get as her "welcome to our family" gift for the baby (A's choice of gift was a doll, and I have an organic knot doll in my gift stash so I told her she could use that). We also poked our heads in the Motherhood outlet, but the one skirt that tempted me, they only had in too small or too big sizes, sigh . . .

Then we went to my friend Kim's house, where the girls not only enjoyed playing w/ Hannah & Yeva (& Sage), but also each took a turn holding baby Ziva :) Ziva is a DREAM baby, content whether held or not, sleeps at night . . . I asked her to PLEASE have a talk with this little one and explain how to behave LOL.

Yesterday evening after supper Mama, the girls, & I walked out to Grandma & Grandpa's house (that would be my grandparents for those getting confused w/ all the granparent-ish names LOL) and Grandma didn't "get" the shirt thing either LOL.

Today was another busy day with the much postponed final class from last spring's Kindermusik class. The girls told Miss Laura about the baby, and the class even sang to the "baby" during their welcome song :) Which effectively told another of my parents' co-workers who'd brought her son to "try out" the class for this fall's session :)

All the running around (today we also let the girls pick berries, tomatoes, etc in Grandpa's garden, and went to visit some other Frederick area friends, then came home and had a picnic supper, and roasted marshmallows for smores. Has made me realize that perhaps the reason I haven't felt as tired this pregnancy as I did last time is because at home if I start getting tired I can sit down and relax for awhile LOL. On the flip-side, w/ all the running aorund this week I've been falling asleep much easier than I had been.

So, now that all the grandparents know, it's "fair game" to tell whoever. And speaking of falling asleep more readily, I should be heading that way now . . .

Telling Grandmom

We went to Grandmom's house today to tell her about the baby. The girls wore their shirts. L was practically bouncing off the walls trying to give Grandmom time to read the shirt. And then both girls babbled on and on and on (and on and on . . . ) about it for the next I don't know how long. MIL was amused that one of them (A, I think) told her that Mommy made "our first midwife appointment" hee hee.

I got this book from the library last week. It was recommended on a homebirth page I was on, as a good book to read w/ kids if you're planning a homebirth. I agree, goes through the experience w/o going into too much technical detail (my girls are going to want more technical detail before it's all said and done LOL, but this was a good start). The only at all "graphic" picture shows the baby's head out, from that picture A has decided that the mommy "poops the baby out" (no amount of explaining will change her mind LOL. Hopefully she doesn't tell TOO MANY people this particular observation LOL).

Also cute annecdote from last week. The girls went up to get the mail & there was a package from a giveaway I won (baby sun hat). The return address label had the company's logo on it which included a picture of a baby, so the girls figured out it was something for the baby. L told me she started to say "It's for the ba . . ." then realized there were men nearby working on the roof of one of the outbuildings here, so she changed it to "barn" LOL. She was so proud of herself for coming up w/ a "save" to keep our secret :)

Now that we've told Grandmom & Aunt Lynette, we just need to tell Mama & Papa on Thursday and then the girls don't have to worry about keeping the secret anymore LOL. When I told the girls I thought we'd be stopping at their friend Hannah's house on our way to Mama & Papa's house, A was quite upset that "but then we won't be able to tell Hannah about the baby!" I told her since we'd be seeing Mama & Papa right after we left Hannah's house that she could go ahead & tell Hannah, so they're happy :) (and actually, talked to Dad tonight, I think we'll meet mom & dad for lunch and THEN go to Hannah's house so that way the girls can tell Mama & Papa first afterall).

I'm discovering I have "reverse morning sickness" (or something) this time around. I'd marginally noticed that I didn't have any real appetite in the mornings and that waiting till late morning to eat anything wasn't bothering me (whereas in general one of the main times m/s hits is first thing in the morning). Well this weekend w/ getting up & eating earlier (to go to church on Sabbath and to go to Grandmom's this morning) I felt worse than I have up until now in the morning. So I'm thinking the key is to actually NOT eat in teh morning . . . trust me to be weird that way LOL.

Finally Made a Midwife Appointment!!

I'm such a procrastinator LOL. Though in this case a big part of it was knowing they weren't likely to want to see me till 9 wks or later anyway, and I was right. First appointment is Sept 11 (and would've been a week or so later then that (she said they normally do first appointment around 12 weeks, the Birth Center I used last time did first appointment at 9 wks) except that was the first available appointment time (so THAT would be an argument for not procrastinating LOL, but oh well . . .). They also want us to come to an orientation thingy in the evening in a couple weeks since we're a new patient. To tour the birth center & such. She didn't ask if I was planning a homebirth, birth center, or hospital, so I figured I'd discuss that in person (I really hate phones, I'm weird that way) but from what someone on mothering.com said (where I asked or homebirth midwife recommendations in this area when I first found out I was pregnant) this practice does homebirths w/ the caveat that if someone else is already in labor AT the birth center, I'd have to go to the birth center so the midwife didn't have to try to be in 2 places at once, but since the birth center is only a couple miles away I can live with that, so touring the birth center is a good thing. I also confirmed that I could bring the girls with me or all appointments and she said that's fine, which I was assuming . . . in general birth centers encourage including siblings in the whole experience, but you never know. . . from a logistics standpoint it wouldn't be the end of the world to not bring the girls with me for prenatal appointments (the birth center is pretty much halfway between our house & dh's office so would be easy enough for him to come take the girls to the playground (which is also close to the birth center) while I was at my appointment or something) but with them wanting to be at the birth, I want them to be comfortable around the midwives and such.

In other news . . . be careful what you say around 5 yr olds!!! I made the mistake (?) of telling the girls that I was going to try to do at least some of the pilates video every day. Then yesterday there was a crew here painting our roof so I decided I'd skip since me in shorts doing pelvic tilts just isn't an attractive thing to see as you walk by a window (and we don't have blinds on our family room windows) but yesterday afternoon A realized I hadn't done "my exercises" and gave me quite the talking to, culminating in pointing out that the men were gone NOW so why didn't I just do it now! So I did one 10 min segment yesterday evening. Actually same scenario today, so I'm expecting her to get on my case here any minute now LOL. Or maybe I'll save her thinking I should do it at bedtime, and go ahead & do one segment now. I must say, while the exercises don't seem too bad while I'm doing them, I felt them afterwards LOL. . .

Exercise

I got a prenatal pilates video from the library to try. And tried it yesterday. It's from the 10 minutes solutions set, so it contains 5 separate 10 minute segments so you can do one of them or all 5 or somewhere in between. I did the first one yesterday morning and at the end of 10 minutes I was tired enough to stop. But then yesterday afternoon I figured I'd do "one more" and ended up doing the rest of the tape. Granted the arm work (in several of the segments) is meant to be done w/ weights and I didn't have any weights (I may have some packed somewhere, but I'm pretty sure I also sent at least one set of my weights to my parents' house, so I'm hoping mom has them easily accessible and I can get them back from her when we're there in a little over a week). Even so, I'm abit sore (exercise other than just day to day life stuff isn't something I've done much of in oh . . . years LOL). I liked the tape overall, although there's one segment that I think I'd avoid in the 3rd trimester because so much of it is done on your back, but easy enough to just skip that segment. I went ahead & reserved a different tape from the library for this next week, but I'm pretty sure I'll get the 10 min solution one.

The girls were sweet, bringing me water between segments and when I was done.

I'm feeling abit more sick these days and my appetite is low (which was the case last time during first trimester too). I'm trying to make sure the food I do eat is fruit, veggies, or good proteins (limit the empty carbs) but not stressing too much about eating less than I'm "supposed to" (I'm not going to blow away anytime soon).

We're visiting MIL this weekend to tell here. Were planning to have the girls wear their "Big Sister" bracelets and show them to her as a way of telling her, but L has managed to stretch her bracelet all out and when A was upset when we first told them, she was holding, but not wearing, her bracelet and somhow "lost" it in/under the sofa. I've pulled out all the cushions, felt as far under & in the cracks as I can, all to no avail, so not sure where it ended up. So, I think we'll go today & get plain white t-shirts and I'll write Big Sister on the shirts & let the girls either draw or stamp other designs on them.

Guess that's about it. I was freaking out abit because I'm starting to notice a little "pooch" (although dh says he doesn't notice a difference, I believe his exact wordswere something along the lines of "are you sure it's not just fat?" LOL) actually more noticing that the fat pooch that is always there is feeling abit more solid, so yeah, probably only noticeable to me. ANYWAY . . . that was freaking me out abit from the whole twin perspective (we could certainly "handle" it if we're blessed w/ twins again, but one at a time is my preference thankyouverymuch) but then I was reading on an April 09 due date board and several of the 2nd time mommies were mentioning that they were starting to get a pooch too, so now I don't feel so bad LOL.

We Told the Girls

While dh was home for lunch today we gave the girls the bracelets I'd made that say "Big Sister" took abit of explaining for them to "get it" but now they know LOL. Initial, initial reaction was excitement from both, then while L excitedly asked 1001 questions, A disappeared. When I noticed & went looking she was crying, and saying she didn't want to be a big sister. After much talking, she said she's worried about Mama & Papa not having time for her anymore. I assured her they will. And basically just held her & let her cry while I kept answering L's questions. Eventually L's questions drew A in, and she started asking questions too. She still says she's scared "I never had a baby in my house before", but she's starting to act excited too. She's also concerned about having to do more laundry LOL.

Both girls have "introduced" themselves to the baby (something tells me my stomach's going to get lots of "conversation" over the next 8 months LOL) and talked to it about various things. We've talked about them each getting a special present to give to the new baby. L has wanted a jack-in-the-box (or more specifically a horse one that's been at the Hearthsong outlet (fingers crossed it's still there LOL) for awhile) for quite awhile, and when I told her she was too big for a jack-in-the-box she suggested that if we ever had another baby we could get it for the baby. SO . . . I told her that next time we go to Mama & Papa's we'll stop & see if the horse-in-the-box is still there & if it is, she can get it to give to the baby. A decided she wants to get a doll for the new baby.

A just came downstairs & told me she'd just prayed to Jesus and asked Him to help her not be scared about the new baby (awwwww).

The "how did the baby get in there" question has already come up (I put them off) as well as "how does the baby get out" I told them if everything goes as planned we'll have the baby here at home so they can choose to be in the room while the baby's born or not (they both want to see it LOL). I'll be getting a book about homebirth (for kids) from the library, which should help to answer some of the questions, and raise additional ones LOL.

Not too much to report . . .

Still not really feeling pregnant. Though my energy level is down. At lunch today dh asked how I was feeling & I said I was ok, just really sleepy, and added "and I don't know why" (because I slept fine last night, didn't get up early, etc) to which he poetically said "maybe because you're knocked up!" LOL.

Current plan is that I'm going to go get alphabet beads once dh gets home tonight, and then tonight or tomorrow night I'll make "Big Sister" bracelets for the girls and we'll give them to the girls as our way of telling them. I'm more anxious to tell people this time, not sure why . . .

As of yesterday morning I'd gained 3lbs (to which my lovely, supportive (HONEST) husband said "are you sure that's baby, and not just too many sweets?" and yes, my weight does tend to fluctuate within a 10lb range, so it might be, but what I was actually trying to "prove" with my comment was that at least at this point, my thyroid doesn't appear to be going wacky this time. Healthier for baby, though I'll admit, starting the last pregnancy w/ a 20lb weight loss was kinda nice LOL. But seriously, the thyroid fluctuation IS dangerous for baby, so I'm glad we seem to be avoiding that this time.

Abit of an update

I'm really not "feeling" at all pregnant. Which I guess isn't too terribly surprising considering how mild the m/s was with twins! (I'm choosing to not entertain the possibility of twins again LOL). Last week was super busy with VBS each evening. Not sure how I feel about attending that VBS next year with a 4 mo old in tow. As long as it's a baby content to hang out in the sling the whole time, we'll be fine. I'm the wierdo that dreads a baby that doesn't want to co-sleep or stay in the sling all day LOL. But still not ideal . . . we'll play it by ear. I might work out a "tag team" arrangement with dh where I take the girls & then he meets us there after work & stays w/ the girls the rest of the time, or we alternate evenings or something. Which I'd have pushed for this year except his back was bothering him too much to spend 2+ hours alternating between sitting on hard floors & standing around.

I did have a couple nights at VBS where it struck me that it was a good thing snack time was next on the agenda because I was feeling abit queasy (and thankfully they gave the adults all a snack too, so I didn't have to steal food from my kids to ease the queasiness LOL).

Had a tad big of spotting (not really even spotting, just a tad pink when I wiped - TMI, I know, but this IS a pregnancy journal thankyouverymuch) last night which has had me abit freaked out all day today (just lots of trips to the bathroom "just to check") and I've used it as an excuse to take it pretty easy today (which is a bummer since I had planned to catch up on the housework that I let slide last week w/ VBS), and A was in "helper girl mode" so it would've been an ideal day to at least get the clutter back under control, but such is life . . .

I think dh & I have decided that I'll make the girls "big sister" bracelets and give them to them as our way of telling them. I had planned to go out today to get alphabet beads (thought I had some, but can't find them, just alphabet charms, and not enough s's to make 2) but dh ended up having to go help his mom, who's sick, so I couldn't go alone. Not sure if I'll attempt it w/ the kids or try to go some evening this week after dh gets home or what . . .

Current plan is to visit my parents the weekend of the 22nd so I think we'll tell them that weekend and plan a trip to MIL's the weekend before or after that to tell her. Once the girls know I'll let them decide if they want to use their bracelets to tell the grandparents or if they want to make big sister shirts to wear.

I've found a way to actually enjoy drinking red raspberry leaf tea. I had great intentions last pregnancy but just couldn't get into it. This time around I figured out to make ice tea with honey to sweeten it. Yummy and healthy!!! Wise Woman Herbal for the Childbearing Year also recommends regularly drinking nettle infusions, so I need to get through my herbs in the basement and see if I still have nettles and if not, get some when I order from Frontier next. Hopefully honey (or something) will make it edible too LOL.

I found a site that makes modest dresses and jumpers that has really reasonable prices (& cotton fabrics, not just poly/cotton blends!!!) and will modify for maternity &/or nursing at no extra cost! So I ordered a maternity dress & a maternity jumper today (haven't heard back on the fabric choices yet though). Beyond that I want to go through what I already have (need to get most of it back from Kim when I'm in MD next time), check the motherhood outlet (when I'm in MD next, it's going to be a busy weekend LOL) and then decide if I need anything else & see if I can con my mom into making me a skirt or dress or two :)

Also REALLY need to call the midwife practice this week, never got a chance to do it last week with VBS and bloggy giveaways (so far I've won a sun hat for the new baby, woo-hoo!) and all.

Last night we went to dh's boss's house for dinner, along w/ the department secretary & her family (who is also our neighbor & they have a 7 yr old dd, that is friends w/ our girls). Mike (secretary's dh) asked us if we were planning on more kids. I just used my stock answer that I've used for the past 3 years "depends who you ask" LOL.

DH has at least accepted w/o argument that we'll have a homebirth. He rolls his eyes abit at it all, but doesn't seem opposed. He's currently saying he doesn't want to come to any of the mw appointments, but DOES want to find out the gender, those 2 things don't go together because I can guarantee if they ask just me, if I want to know gender, I'm going to say no LOL. So we shall see . . . not sure what this practice's policy on u/s is anyway, though considering they do mostly hospital births (per someone on mdc) I'm guessing they'll at least do the 20 wk u/s, possibly others if asked (the one at 20 wks is the only one I'll agree to).

He HAS already vetoed my first choice of baby names, sigh . . . need to discuss it more when the girls aren't around, they came in the house just as we were starting to talk about it, so it was an abbreviated discussion.

Guess that gets us pretty much up to date. I don't think I'm having the thyroid issues I was having last time (losing weight) but maybe that didn't start till later? I need to weight myself again to see if I'm gaining/losing/holding steady. I'm fascinated with the little ticker thing I have on this blog & being able to see what baby is up to :)

How it all began . . .

Ok, well, you know THAT part! And I'm not about to go into details LOL. But moving forward a few days from there. The first indication I had that maybe, possibly, this was the month was when I had a totally unexplained nose bleed a week or so ago. Now, in the winter, I'd have thought nothing of it, dry winter air generally means frequent nose bleeds for me. And probably even in our old house in the summer, w/ the a/c on, I'd probably have blamed the dryness of the a/c. But this house, even WITH the a/c on, could never be considered DRY this time of year. So I was baffled. Then it occurred to me that there was a slight chance I could be pregnant. I looked up online, and sure enough, while I don't remember having any w/ my first pregnancy, nose bleeds ARE common in pregnancy. So I became very cautiously hopeful. . .

I haven't been keeping real close track of my cycles recently, so I wasn't real sure when to test. Decided to go ahead & try on Wed. figuring (based on my calculations) that it was still early enough that negative wouldn't really mean anything. But it was positive! No squinting required, positive!

My parents got here Wed evening, we went to Sesame Place on Thurs, hung out here with my parents on Fri, and then dh left after church Sabbath to take the girls to his mom's for overnight. So, I didn't get a chance to tell dh until after the girls were in bed last night. I'm not sure it's totally sunk in with him yet, he just kinda sat there in shock. And looked at me like I was insane when I asked if he was ready to talk names yet LOL.

There's a midwife practice that does homebirths less than 3 mi from our house so I'll be calling them this week.

As I said, I wasn't watching cycles real close, but looks like baby#3 is due in early April.

Announcing . . .

A new baby for us!!! Our long awaited baby#3 is due in early April, 2009.