Heather's Handmade Life

Weekly re-cap

Posted on February 7, 2010 by Heather Laura Clarke

(Jan. 31 to Feb. 6)

Symptoms: Round ligament pain, heartburn (even with my heartburn meds, sadly), leg cramps (sometimes so bad they cause me to have to sleep with them propped up on pillows).

Body changes: This was another week where I feel my stomach got especially big. It’s getting hard to type at keyboards that are level with it, because it juts out so much. Nice and round and rock-hard, though 🙂

Belly button: Still creeping towards the surface. I suspect it could be flattened out as early as next week!

Energy level: Pretty good.

Baby preparations: Speeding along, now that we know we’re having a baby boy! All of the holes have been patched, the paint and fabric has been purchased, and I went a little nutso buying my first batch of baby clothes — so fun!

Cravings: Still fruit, especially grapes and strawberries

High point: Our 3D ultrasound, where we found out we’re having a baby boy! It is so nice to know the sex, and actually get to buy cute gender-specific clothes — not to mention it’s a huge relief to be able to start the nursery. If any of you are contemplating finding out the sex, I highly recommend it.

Here he is! …

Low point: As happy as I am to be expecting our baby boy, I did have a moment of disappointment for not having a baby girl like I’d hoped/expected.

Paranoid moment of the week: Watching the Duggar special about their premature baby, and making a hysterical phone call to Darling Husband. Pregnant women should not want that stuff, and yet we must. We can’t not watch it. It’s a lose-lose situation, really.

All things blue (and precious)

Posted on February 5, 2010 by Heather Laura Clarke

2 Comments

Friday, February 5, 2010

22 weeks, 5 days preggo

This is bad.

Really bad.

I discovered an online, Canadian baby clothes shop that has free shipping — like all the time, totally free. God bless you, Please Mum.

So of course, I immediately put in my first order. Luckily, everything I bought was on clearance, so I paid between $4 and $7 for each of these sweet items:

The total came to $36.94 before tax, for all six items — and no shipping charges on top of that. I’m in love!

Let’s try this again

Posted on February 5, 2010 by Heather Laura Clarke

2 Comments

Friday, February 5, 2010

22 weeks, 5 days preggo

Remember how my little guy was totally uncooperative at our 20-week ultrasound, and the technician couldn’t get all of the heart photos they needed?

Well, I’m very happy to report that at our do-over — which happened on Wednesday, the day after our private clinic 3D ultrasound — everything went much better.

Don’t get me wrong: Baby Boy was still being stubborn, and had his elbows tucked in front of his chest (making it hard to capture the photos), but luckily the tech was able to snap all of the shots she needed.

And after a brief 25-minute wait — as I lay alone, goo-covered, in the room — she came back to report that the doctor said everything looked great.

I won’t get the official ultrasound results until my next OBGYN appointment (scheduled for Wednesday), but the tech assured me that if something had looked abnormal, I would have been told.

HUGE SIGH OF RELIEF.

So after a whirlwind of ultrasounds — one standard, one 3D one at a private clinic, and one do-over — I think we’re done for a while. I’m actually not sure when I will get another, but I believe it’s not until right before Baby Boy is due. That seems like an eternity away, but time is passing pretty quickly so far, so we’ll see!

I am learning fast that when it comes to babies and pregnancy, you want as few “extras” as possible — because that’s a good sign things are totally average and unexciting.

How it happened …

Posted on February 4, 2010 by Heather Laura Clarke

5 Comments

Thursday, February 4, 2010

22 weeks, 4 days pregnant

Wow, where to begin!

Just a few days ago, I had this anonymous little person inside of me, and now that I know — with 100% certainty — that the person is a boy, everything is so much more real. It’s not just a baby. It’s a baby boy!

Let me back up and talk about Tuesday — the afternoon of our 3D ultrasound. I was beyond excited to finally find out the baby’s gender. I got hopped up on orange pop, a Fun Dip, and Nerds, and I was literally buzzing by the time we got called into the room.

We had already arranged to pay an extra $25 for a DVD of the ultrasound, and I had brought two CDs for the music — one boy-themed, and one girl-themed. So after we met the technician and I got settled on the table, she said she would do a quick peek (while we closed our eyes), and then she would put on the gender-appropriate CD and begin recording.

I thought I was going to stop breathing while she fumbled with the CD player, and I waited to hear the song that would let me know if she’d put on the boy CD or the girl CD. And then, I heard it …

The song that has always made me want a boy, every time I hear it. I squealed, completely out of shock and amazement and “Oh-my-God-the-wait-is-over! I-actually-know-the-sex!” relief.

Of course, Darling Husband was not around when I burned the CDs, so the song did not clue him in. He was all, “What? What is it?”

I cried, “It’s a boy!” and I will never forget the way his face lit up.

The next few minutes were a total blur. Tears were running down my face. There were three screens to watch, and I kept looking at all of them, trying to find the best view. The technician was pointing out our son’s (our SON’S!) teeny little junk, and saying that she was totally positive he was a boy.

I watched our little boy on the screens, as the tech flipped back and forth between 2D (the traditional black-and-white type of ultrasound) and 3D, and just stared. I’d had two other ultrasounds at this point (one quickie, one 20-weeker), but it was like I was seeing him for the first time. Seeing him as a boy, as a real person, not just a random “baby.”

And the lyrics just floated around me …

Let the rain come down and wash away my tears
Let it fill my soul and drown my fears
Let it shatter the walls for a new son
A new day has come
Where it was dark now there’s light
Where there was pain now there’s joy
Where there was weakness, I found my strength
All in the eyes of a boy

The 30 minutes went by far too quickly. We got to see our little guy suck on his fingers (and toes), flash a quick “Peace” sign, and squirm around a lot. The 3D portions were incredible. We could even tell that he seems to have Darling Husband’s nose (and my fingers)!

We left the office clutching our DVD, a CD full of photos, two printed glossies, and a fistful of “It’s a boy” suckers — they were 3/$1, and I kept grabbing them until Darling Husband told me to save some for the other parents-to-be.

After some exciting phone calls, a quiet dinner out together, and a whirlwind showing-off-the-DVD to the family, we finally arrived back at our place. Darling Husband and I had a happy, huggy “Ohh-we’re-having-a-boy! It’s so nice to know for sure!” kind of minute.

And then he made the mistake of asking if I was OK.

As in … was I OK with the baby not being a girl?

And then the tears started.

I felt horribly guilty for crying, but I couldn’t help it. I had researched gender disappointment days before the ultrasound, and I knew it was normal to want one or the other — and that yes, sometimes you are sad and shocked at first when you get the opposite.

As much as I hated to admit it, I had been pretty convinced it was a girl, so I was dealing with the shock. And yeah, call me evil, but I had wanted a girl. Like, forever. And what would my girl-power crew of Mom and Little Sis think? Oh God, would a boy even like me???

While I was (and am) happy we are going to have a healthy baby boy, I also cried for the little things that I would miss. Frilly dresses. A girly nursery. Tights and hair bows and tea parties and dolls and pink.

Through my tears, I explained to Darling Husband that if we’d been having a girl, he would be the one missing certain things about having a boy. As awful as it sounded, he had “gotten his way,” and I had not.

Then Darling Husband and started talking about what it will mean for us to have a boy. I started picturing an adorable, sweet-faced, miniature version of Darling Husband. I saw stocky little arms and legs, and a face that lights up like his does. I thought of how boys always love their mommies. I thought of teaching him how to be a sweet, polite young man.

By the time I went to bed that night, I was excited about having a son. Yes, I would be missing the girly things like dresses and Mary-Jane shoes (at least for now). But that obviously wasn’t the plan for us. We were destined to have a boy — this boy.

And I absolutely can’t wait to meet the little guy.