Young Baby Young

Let me skip right to the good part: my nurse midwife called me the model patient today.  I spent the next two hours preening my feathers and clucking contentedly.

Right.  Back up a step.  We went in for our monthly doctor’s appointment today.  At this point, they don’t do much: a weight check (me), a heartbeat check (her), a blood pressure check (me), a growth check (her), and a Q&A period.  Everything’s going so darn well that there wasn’t much to say.  She was pleased with my modest two-pound weight gain in the past month (in spite of my continuing love of the mint chocolate chip ice cream), my blood pressure remains low, and there was really nothing for us to discuss.  Which is when she declared me to be the model patient.  Ahhh, yeah.

I continued with my wallpapering mission after returning home and made more excellent progress.  I told Chris I needed some action shots.  (Note to self: perhaps we should think twice about that next time.)

This model patient isn’t really feeling that picture.  

And alas, they don’t capture the belly growth.  But don’t worry, I’ll work on that.  My people have spoken and have requested more belly shots.  I would be remiss if I did not abide.  Stay tuned…

The dogs were unhappy about being left out of the wallpapering fun (Nathan was so good at painting that he’s positive he’ll be excellent at wallpapering), so they cast their evil Twilight Zone glares upon us (to no avail):

This model patient needs a moment to oooh and ahhh over the cute patent leather shoes again.  Have you ever seen anything as sweet?

They’re so cute that I just want to eat them.  Of course, that would probably knock me off my model patient pedestal, so I’m going to refrain.  But the sentiment is still valid.

Yesterday, Chris and I went to Bangor to get the car serviced.  While there, we poked around in various stores, getting baby room ideas.  We were most delighted to find a fabulous deal on a Baby Bjorn carrier in Target: normally $100, we got this one for $25!

Before we went to Target, though, we decided to swing by the jeweler’s and have our rings cleaned.  Mine always comes out of there so sparkly…it’s amazing how much soap residue they get off each time.  Anyhoo, while there, the woman rushes over and says that I’ll need to come back on Tuesday because one of my stones is loose.  Gasp!  We cannot have that.  And Tuesday is not going to work, given that we live and work kind of far away, so we suggest that perhaps I leave it now and pick it up on Wednesday.  All parties agree that this is a good idea.  I reluctantly part with my ring and walk out.  So picture this, if you will: I’m 5+ months pregnant and looking quite round.  I’m wearing ill-fitting maternity jeans, flip-flops, no make-up, and a tank top.  Chris is with me, wearing normal clothes, with his wedding ring all nicely polished….  I swear, people must have thought I was his bit on the side.  Monday through Friday, he’s home with the wifey; but Saturday mornings are reserved for his knocked-up girlfriend.  It just wasn’t right, I tell you!

Luckily we then stumbled upon my Baby Bjorn and I was happy again.  (Apparently, I have the emotional volatility of a 3-year-old.)  Also in our findings were a Christmas party dress for the baby, some matching patent leather shoes, and a stuffed Eeyore.  Plus lots of things on the “perhaps I’ll come back later for those” list.  And given that I have to go up there on Wednesday for my ring anyway…”later” may be much sooner than we thought. 

Sunday has been spent doing lots of nesting chores.  Chris spent the day mowing the lawn and painting areas of the house that needed some TLC.  Nathan helped by letting him know which painted sections were dry and, more importantly, which were not:

I de-spider-mited my jade tree (how does that happen? where do they come from?) and then got cracking on the wallpaper.  I must say, I’m doing a fine job of it, but it’s slooooow.  For some reason, I seem to be plagued with air bubbles and seams that don’t want to be flush.  Other than that, it’s wonderful!  I squealed with the first piece that went up: it’s exactly what we had envisioned for the room!  This picture doesn’t really do it justice, but I’ll post it anyway.

It’s very sweet and girly, but not so young that we have to change it in a year or two.  We’re hoping that it can last until about age 11.  (At which time, she’ll declare that pink is like, totally lame and for little kids.  She won’t be satisfied with anything other than black.)

I only got about 1/3 of the room done.  Unfortunately, we’re going to be out of town for the next four weekends, so I’ll have to chip away at it after work.  I can’t leave things as they are because the house is a disaster zone:

Signing off,

My nesting instinct is really kicking in.  The nursery wallpaper arrived yesterday (yea!) and I’ll start that project tomorrow.  In the meantime, we’ve been caulking windows, cleaning baseboards, touching up trim paint, etc.  The whole house is in a state of chaos.  Plus, we keep getting all sorts of fun items from friends and family that we have no place to put.

I realized today that I was waddling — not good.  I’ve got my maternity jeans on and my feet are sore.  Woe is me!   

Yeah, and I’m way bigger than that picture.  I looked like that after 12 weeks…  This is week 24 now.  Chris and I go in for another doctor’s visit on Monday.

Baby E is quite active now and never ceases to make me smile.  She’s a little naughty and has been using my bladder as a trampoline, but even that is a little amusing.  (Mark my words: she’ll be jumping on the beds in a few years.)  You can see from the picture above how God really was kind of not nice when he designed this bladder/fetus infrastructure.  She likes it when I eat — the surge of sugars in the bloodstream get her all active.  Like most, she’s particularly active when I settle down.  So far, she’s not keeping me up or anything.  We’ll have to have some words if that happens.

Sorry, I’m not in the mood for a creative blog, so this will be brief and to the point. 

A sweet gift from our neighbor, Mrs. Hinckley:

A very cool tea set from a former coworker, Kristin Tardif:

A picture of Chris and “the girls” from last weekend.  (These are high school friends; they try to get together every summer to catch up.)  Sara, Molly, Chris, Wendy, and Jodie.

A few people on Mom’s street had yard sales last weekend.  Mom did a very impressive job of picking out wonderful things for her first grandchild.  Check out all of the loot:

And all of this for about $30!  Way to beat off the little old ladies using their own canes, Mom!  Way to shove the little kids out of the way without looking back!  Way to elbow the other pushy mothers who wanted to get loot for their kids!  My heart swells with pride.

Also from Mom was baby’s first Jenny-from-the-block velour sweatsuit.  She needed something warm (and fashionable!) for life in Maine in the winter.  The other babies are going to be so jealous.  I think she’s ready for her visit to Auntie Caroline in Florida! 

It seems that Nathan has been watching the Olympics.

Hold on.  We’re not watching the Olympics…how could Nathan be watching the Olympics?  Ack, who knows what he does while we’re not home all day.  Suffice it to say that we believe he’s been watching a lot of gymnastics events.

This morning, I was sleepily laying in bed, thinking about how much I didn’t want to get up and go to work, when Nathan came bursting into the room, full of boyish exuberance.  He leaped onto the bed and then saw the ideal springboard upon which he might execute the perfect back handspring-cartwheel-somersault combination.  Of course, this springboard would be my stomach.  On it he leaped and loudly I shrieked.

Baby E was horrified.  A ruder awakening she has never had.  She began to swear like a sailor, but I’ve already told her that I wouldn’t tolerate that kind of language, so I refused to acknowledge her.  Further enraged, she decided that the best way to express her anger would be to start throwing out some roundhouse kicks to the belly.  They were so strong, in fact, that I called Chris in to feel.  ”Nah, I won’t be able to feel that.  It probably feels hard to you, but I won’t be able to feel it through all of the layers.”  Still skeptical, he put his hand on my stomach.  Still furious, she continued to kick.  Chris was wonderfully surprised to find that he could feel it.  I wasn’t just imagining it.  Just to please him, she did it again.

And so, you see, that was how Baby Daddy C was able to feel his little girl kicking for the first time.

Once again, family and friends have amazed us with their ability to give stellar gifts.  Check out this set from Christie and family — she said she squealed with delight when she saw it in the store.  Just imagine the squealing that was heard on this end!

Yes, people, your eyes are not deceiving you: Christie found a little girl onesie, socks, hat, and blanket all with a dachshund theme!  BRILLIANT!  Can life get any better? 

What did the dogs think of this?  They gave it one of their highest ratings ever: two wagging tails in a sunbeam:

Also on the docket for the weekend was a trip to Rockland to go to the boat show.  Dad’s good friends Sandy and Helen Jones just had their yacht completed, so we decided to join everyone else in gawking stupidly. 

We tried to get ourselves adopted, but I don’t think it worked.  Oh well, at least we had a nice tour!

A strange rash has popped up in the last week.  I thought it must be some kind of allergy, but then again, maybe it was pregnancy related.  At first I thought I was getting bug bites, but then the red bumpy area would spread rapidly; within an hour, it would disappear completely.  It started on Tuesday and has shown up every day since.  I contemplated whether it was related to foods I was eating, or maybe a change in laundry detergent, but I couldn’t come up with anything.  I wasn’t too worried about it, but Chris was stressed out: “You have to call the doctor tomorrow!”

“Eh, it’s gone now — I’m sure it was nothing.”

“What if the baby has shingles or something?!”

So we go online and look up pregnancy + rash.  We start reading these worst-case scenarios of women who experience liver failure during pregnancy and thus become jaundiced and itchy.  I phoned the doctor’s office the next day and talked to my nurse midwife.  She was totally unconcerned about this and said, “It’s probably a change in diet.  Since it goes away on its own, I’m inclined to think it’s a mild allergy.”

“Phew!” I said.  “So it’s nothing we need to be worried about?”

“I don’t think so.  If it continues, you may want to see a dermatologist.  I don’t believe this is pregnancy-related.”

Sheepishly, I said, “I guess I don’t have liver failure, huh?”

My nurse sighed loudly on the other end of the phone and said, “I told you not to read those pregnancy books!  No, it’s not liver failure.”

And with that, I was happy again.  I hung up the phone, chuckling about my doctor’s office being so chill and down-to-earth that they scream at me for being a hypochondriac.  I think I’m in good hands.

I felt it!  I felt Baby E doing her aqua aerobics last night, just after I had finished whining that I hadn’t felt anything yet.  It was like a little air bubble in my stomach, deciding to adjust itself.  I can see why people mistake it for gas.  It was so exciting!  She was a little active again this morning, until she was lulled into a sound sleep while we reviewed trust accounts and their beneficiaries.  (I guess she’s not into that line of business quite yet….)  I’m very proud of my mini Kung Fu fighter.  I’m guessing that when she weighs more than a pound, these movements won’t be quite as amusing.

In other news, we’ve had an excellent two days of gifts being bestowed upon us.  In yesterday’s blog, I mentioned the 10 onesies that Charlene’s friend’s baby couldn’t fit in.  Next we got an OshKosh B’Gosh vest from my coworker Lorraine (see picture below) and a little newborn headband (as embarrassingly modeled by Natalie, my surrogate baby):

My friend Becky bought Baby E her first dress; cousin Cindy sent me a workout DVD she had used; and our friends Mike and Daisy bought the ultimate girl gift: her first pair of high heels!  She’s going to be just like her momma!

In an unrelated moment, Nathan “wanted in” on the photoshoot, so my little ham posed as best he could for my new favorite picture of him:

We just completed 20 weeks, so we’re a little over halfway there!  The baby weighed about 12oz during our ultrasound, and the internet claims she’s about the size of a banana.  I’ve gained 6 pounds so far — it’s not a lot, but it really shows.  The doctor said everything is progressing as it should.

We continue to get lots of fun things from friends and family, including lots of books.  The collection is growing quite nicely, don’t you think?

My stepmother has a friend who just gave birth to a rather robust baby.  She had all of these onesies for a newborn, but it seems that her child has already outgrown them.  Luckily for us, they’re going to send them to us for Baby E’s usage!

Surprisingly, I still can’t feel any kicks yet.  They say that most people feel them between 16 and 21 weeks….  We saw on the ultrasound that she was pretty active, so why aren’t I feeling anything?  I suspect it’s because she’s being polite, and I appreciate that.  I shall have to feed her more ice cream as a reward.