Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Wedding Dresses

No, not mine!  My sister Alison is getting married July 6th, and I'm in the wedding party.  I will also be 27 weeks pregnant by then.

How does one plan for something like this?  It wouldn't make sense to buy a dress sooner than a few weeks beforehand since I don't know how big I'll be, but...it feels wrong to procrastinate on buying a dress for one's sister's wedding!  And last - minute dresses are inevitably more expensive than ones found months beforehand on the sale rack.

I guess this is yet another chapter of "Flying by the Seat of My Pants [Which No Longer Button]: Pregnancy Edition."

Also: 

 He loves me...

Monday, February 27, 2012

Nine Weeks (or, another week closer to the safe zone)

It seems that we're in the minority in terms of sharing the news of our pregnancy so very early.  Granted, we're inching ever closer to the second trimester - hoping, hoping, hoping we won't regret having made it public so early.  Nothing as of yet has given us any reason to worry. 

I've actually felt great physically this past week - the nausea and exhaustion have let up, which is a relief.  I'm still tired, but not nearly so much so as I was for the first month or so. 

It would be lovely if the health insurance situation would resolve itself so easily and quickly.  My current policy (which doesn't cover prenatal care) ends tomorrow, and the appropriate paperwork has yet to be shuffled for anything to take its place.  It's terrifying, but I'm trying to believe that everything will work out as it should.  October 1st feels about as tangible as the moon, but it's a very small amount of time in the grand scheme of things.  Seven months ago, I was starting at Trader Joe's and enjoying Lake Huron.  Seven months and a few days in the other direction, I'll be holding a baby if all goes as planned.  All that to say, while I'm losing sleep over the idea of not having health insurance for four months, it will most likely fly by so quickly I'll barely have time to think about it.

Three things that have made me happy lately:

  • 100% cranberry juice, and the realization that I have a much easier time drinking enough water when the two are combined
  •  Family dinners.  We've had two in the past week, and they've been both delicious and enjoyable.  
  • Daily showers.  I haven't been a daily shower-er for years, but pregnancy seems to result in greasier hair and therefore hair that requires more frequent washing.  Showers are warm, cozy, relaxing, and comparatively cheap retreats from the world. Lush bar shampoo makes the experience that much better.

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Seven weeks, six days

We ('we' either referring to Chris and I, or to the critter and I) have our first trip to the doctor tomorrow.

I'm having mixed feelings about it.  On one hand, it's going to be exciting to have the pregnancy "officially" confirmed, and to find out that everything is progressing as it should.  On the other hand, though - there's always the potential for bad/sad news.  And then there's the insurance issues...

I found out Friday that my health insurance does not cover prenatal care.  We're working on fixing the issue - if I can't get on Trader Joe's health insurance before open enrollment in July, I'm going to have to apply for state aid to pay for prenatal care.  I'm very much hoping that I'll be able to get on TJ's insurance for the sake of continuity of care, but Medicaid would quite possibly be cheaper.  I suppose this makes it a win - win situation.  This is what I'm telling myself anyway - we should know more by next week.

On to more positive news though!
  1. Belly bands/BeBands/stretchy hair ties are wonderful things when one's belly begins to make buttoning one's pants uncomfortable and/or impossible.
  2.  As the BabyCenter phone app reminded me a few weeks ago, I won't have to stress about the fact that my stomach's not flat for...oh, almost a year!
  3. While many preggos crave somewhat unhealthy food, spinach, salads, and fruit have been at the top of my list for the past few weeks.  Mac&cheese is delicious, but veggies currently sound better.  
I shall update with more information, post-doc visit tomorrow.

Friday, February 10, 2012

"Evening sickness" or "yay, my body's doing exactly what it's supposed to be doing"

Seven weeks into this pregnancy and three days after the nausea started, I can honestly say I'm tired of it.  I wake up feeling fine but end up sick to my stomach and headache-y by early afternoon. This has resulted in entirely too many couch + Netflix/SVU marathons as of late (of which I'm not ashamed). 

Bananas and toast with almond butter help.  So does any sort of carbonated beverage.  That having been said, work is going to be challenging.  I've been wondering lately if I'm actually going to be able to work until early fall with how tired I already am.  I suppose that's a bridge to be crossed once I'm out of my first trimester, when the exhaustion is supposed to abate. 

Aside from that, I've been running on days I feel up to it, and spending a lot of time talking with Chris about how we're going to approach this pregnancy medically - OB versus midwife, the issue of vaccination, and other such things.  There are a lot of things to consider.  I know it's quite early to be discussing the pregnancy publicly, but I'm grateful for the input of others thus far - finding out early has allowed us the time to think through all aspects of the pregnancy.  

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

5 weeks...

...is how far along BabyCenter.com's due date calculator says we are.  Barring any complications, I should be due the first week of October.


It's amusing, scary, reassuring, how quickly I've adjusted to the idea (and actuality) of pregnancy.  While hormones may be to blame for part of it (lets be honest here - I get the impression that if pregnancy hormones told me to jump off a cliff, I'd probably do it, or at least seriously consider it), I think life circumstances get plenty of credit as well.  I never thought I wanted kids, but I've gone from a bit scared to totally thrilled in less than a week.  BabyCenter says this tiny person inside of me is roughly the size of a sesame seed, which is amazing since it's such new news to both Chris and I. 

It's far too early to be doing much planning or purchasing, but we've already begun looking at baby stuff online.  I have a first prenatal appointment scheduled for the 20th of February,  which seems far away but is, in fact, only three weeks away.