Registry-o-rama
After much debate, this is the crib.
You love it, right? ‘Cause I can’t bear to re-open that debate.
You love it, right? ‘Cause I can’t bear to re-open that debate.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
20 weeks, 2 days pregnant
So we’ve registered …
Yes, that sentence deserves its own paragraph. Why? Because IT WAS TIRING.
Wait, let me clarify: registering in the department store was tiring. Exhausting, actually. Frustrating. Hot. Crowded. And it may or may not have resulted in several accusations that Darling Husband didn’t know how to use the registering gun.
As I mentioned on Sunday, Darling Husband and I attended a special baby event at a department store, so we could get started on our registry, listen to experts, maybe win prizes, etc.
We ate some fruit, drank some juice, listened to guest speakers talk about nutrition and yoga and childbirth and the fact that university tuition will be approximately $500,000 in 18 years. Everything was mellow …
… until we got that blasted registry gun.
I thought I had known what I was in for, and had brought my tidy little two-page spreadsheet of everything we needed on our registry. I led Darling Husband (and the gun) over to the first aisle, and proceeded to go item by item. When we needed something, Darling Husband would scan it, and I would check it off my list. Simple, right?
Except for the fact that …
- The gun only scanned about half of the barcodes
- The gun came up with errors for the other half
- Store employees were never around when the gun acted up
- Some things (like the crib mattresses) didn’t have barcodes
- Seriously, where are the store employees???
- Other things (like the cribs) had hidden barcodes that involved opening up plastic sleeves and sorting though random slips of paper
- You could scan a pack of yellow facecloths and a pack of multi-coloured facecloths, and they would come up with the same thing. I want multi-coloured facecloths, not yellow! They are not the same AUGHHHHHH!
Eventually, we handed back that hated gun.
And went to the food court for cheeseburgers.
And a contraband Diet Coke.
And I felt a million times better.
And a contraband Diet Coke.
And I felt a million times better.
That night, Darling Husband went off to work, and I hunkered down in front of my laptop and calmly finished registering for everything (split between the department store and a specialty baby store).
The internet is really the way to go. No crowds, no stupid gun, no anxiety attacks over barcodes. Just good old-fashioned telling-people-what-to-buy-us.
P.S. Oh, I did forget to mention the one good part of the store event. Darling Husband won one of the top prizes …
A diaper cake!
P.P.S. No, we are not taking this as a sign from God to use disposables.
P.P.P.S. Darling Husband won’t let me take it apart (possibly ever). I think he’s proud of his big win.
P.P.P.P.S. (Clean) disposable diapers smell really, really good. Like powder and sweet, sweet babies.
20-week ultrasound
Monday, January 18, 2010
20 weeks, 1 day pregnant
Darling Husband and I had the big 20-week ultrasound this morning, and it didn’t go exactly as I had expected …
The Good:
- We got to see Little Baby again, for longer this time!
- He/she really looks like a real baby!
- We had a nice technician (I’ve heard some of them are jerks)
- She pointed out his/her hands, arms, legs, belly, head, etc.
- It was cute to see him/her roll over and move around
- Little Baby had cute skeleton hands and a weird bendy-looking spine like a sea-snake
- … oh, and a gigantic head. I’m not looking forward to birthing such a big head, but it’s kind of cute, since Darling Husband and I have big heads. Awww, genes.
The Bad:
- Little Baby was not cooperating — stubborn like Mommy (and Daddy). When the tech was trying to get photos of the heart, he/she scrunched up and wouldn’t let her get a clear look from all the angles.
- The technician had me pee at that point (woohoo!) to try and encourage Little Baby to spread out a bit, but no luck. That is one stubborn child.
- We need to go back in two weeks so they can try to look at the heart again. I’m trying not to worry, but … I can’t help it. I’m worrying. I wanted reassurance that everything was fine today!
The Ugly:
- I was very concerned about having to hold my pee for so long, so I followed the instructions carefully. My appointment was at 10 a.m., so at 8:45 a.m. I took my final pee, and then drank the 500ml of water (even used a measuring cup, so I didn’t get a drop more).
- I had to pee by 9:05 a.m.
- I got squirmy around 9:10 a.m.
- By the time we got to the hospital at 9:40 a.m., it was hard to walk.
- We weren’t called in until 10:50 a.m.
- I couldn’t pee until 11:15 a.m. (and yeah, it was the longest pee of my life)
Part of me is worried that we have to go back, but a bit of Googling brought up a very comforting message board thread with other women who went through the same thing. They felt the same as me — worried, concerned, etc. — but it turned out, their babies were just stubborn as well. So I’m trying to stay positive.
Blackjack, baby!
Sunday, January 17, 2010
20 WEEKS PREGNANT!!!
I’m fired up this morning!
I’ve hit 20 weeks!
I’ve hit 20 weeks!!!
That means I’m officially in Week 21 (which, as we know, is the way impatient people like me prefer to count it).
It’s my Blackjack week (21!), and a couple of important baby milestones are on the schedule:
- Today: Attending a special baby event at the department store at which we’ve registered. It’s supposed to have safety demonstrations, giveaways, information, etc. I’m also hoping Darling Husband and I can add a couple of items to the registry while we’re there — things that we’ll want gender-neutral, for future kiddos.
- Tomorrow: Our 20-week ultrasound! I’m super-excited to see Little Baby’s sweet face again, especially because this time we’ll probably get a longer glimpse. There is also a really, really small possibly that we’ll be able to tell the gender (hamburger or turtle, remember) or that the technician will be a softy and tell us (even though they’re not supposed to tell us).
More to come later, once I’ve been thoroughly overwhelmed with the amount of items for which we’re “supposed” to register.
Weekly re-cap
(Jan. 10 to Jan. 16)
Symptoms: Heartburn (so intense that required getting a prescription), snoring, sinus weirdness (that wakes me up at the crack of dawn), obsessive nesting (in the form of sewing baby stuff),
Body changes: POPPING in a major way, finding it hard to bend over/roll over/lie on my back.
Energy level: Still high. I accomplished a ton of sewing projects (wipes, bibs, burp cloths), attended several more family events (when you marry into a big family, this is your destiny), started two online registries (more about that soon) and even cooked (sometimes).
Cravings: Grapes (again). Oh, and some sausage patties and hashbrowns from McDonald’s (a bribe from Darling Husband to get me to the second family gathering in 12 hours), and it was possibly the most delicious breakfast I’ve ever eaten. Yes, I love McDonald’s breakfast — judge away.
High point: Going to our third OBGYN appointment and hearing that all of our maternal serum results are great! Oh, and being called “small” was great for my self-esteem.
Low point: Slight worry when I asked about the pee test, and was told I had had trace amounts of protein in my pee during the previous visit. But I was told not to worry, and this month’s test was negative, so I’m not going to dwell on it.
Paranoid moment of the week: After I told ob OBGYN about my crazy-bad heartburn, she prescribed some mild heartburn medication and told me it was totally safe during pregnancy. Even so, I hemmed and hawed for a bit before actually taking the first pill, because I’ve been so careful not to take any drugs during this pregnancy (except for the occasional Tylenol).
P.S. Eventually, I began taking it, and it’s worked wonders. Just might be the Eighth Wonder of the Preggo World, next to giant-but-comfy maternity undies.
Kick me … please?
Saturday, January 16, 2010
19 weeks, 6 days pregnant
Remember how I first felt Little Baby moving around in Week 15, and I was all, “Ohh, the baby’s moving! Sunshine and rainbows, I’m so happy!”
Well, back then — you know, waaaaay back a whole four weeks ago, it was considered “early” movement, and I was super proud to have felt it. I didn’t worry about how often I felt it, because either way, I was ahead of the game! Some people hadn’t even felt their babies move by that point, yay me, etc.
Now that I’m in Week 20, it’s a different ball game. Some people are feeling hardcore kicks and punches from their little bambinos, and I have just still been feeling “pokes.”
But what counts as a “kick”? I read it as a somewhat violent motion, that you go, “OH! There’s a kick!” What I feel are tickly feelings or little nudges and pokes — I wouldn’t call them kicks, but is that what other people are calling them?
The bottom line is this: sometimes it seems like I’m feeling Little Baby less than I have in previous weeks. And it’s got me worried, of course. Bouncing worrying is what we Tiggers pregnant women do best.
I’ve been Googling “week 20 pregnant fetal movement” until my fingers are practically falling off, reading message boards to see what other preggos have felt in their twentieth week, and generally obsessing.
I do feel Little Baby every day, I think, but some days his/her presence is barely noticeable unless I drink ice-cold water or something super-sugary. Are those the days when he/she is facing my back, making it harder to feel the little taps? Is he/she just napping a lot? Lazy?
Maybe those gentle nudges mean he/she is a sensitive soul and doesn’t want to hurt Mommy? Awww …
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