My New Trick

Well, I can officially hide things with my belly. 

What can I successfully hide? 

A FREAKING BOWLING BALL!

Seriously, I have a ball back there. 

A 10 lb ball.

You don't believe me, do you?

Told you.

Then I forced two of our FCCLA boys to take this little gem entitled 

"One of these things is not like the  other"

What good sports they were! 

Just the Friday fun I needed! 

Well...that crept up on me

Apparently I am in full pregnancy mode. I'm not sure when it happened- but it's taken over my life.

Some signs: 

#1: My daily supplements. 

In case you were wondering- 

Alfalfa: to reduce bleeding during birth and for about 1 million other reasons. Here's an article: clearly it is peer reviewed and scientific...OR it was the first website I googled because I am lazy. http://wellnessmama.com/188/herb-profile-alfalfa/

Pre-natal: I've been taking that one for years now. Plenty of vitamin D and Folic acid in this bad boy. I bought the most expensive one...back BEFORE insurance decided to ruin my life this year.

Red Raspberry Leaf (both tea and pill form)- to reduce nausea, leg cramping, and sleeping issues. It is also supposed to strengthen my uterus/pelvic muscles and make contractions more efficient. Here's what that same lady says about it (she must have some sort of deal with google- she ALWAYS pops up first) http://wellnessmama.com/5107/herb-profileraspberry-leaf/

So, here is what I take 3 times a day (minus the prenatal, which is only once a day). 

Those round alfalfa ones are NASTY. 

They smell AND taste like eating a tea bag. 

Not drinking...eating.

I don't like tea. 

And they aren't in capsules- so if you don't take them just right they IMMEDIATELY start dissolving in your mouth.

It's a good thing I like Eli.

#2- My Friday Nights

I had a bad Thursday/ Friday night (again- insurance is trying to ruin my life), so I told Rico that I wanted a picnic in front of the fire...with peanut butter and jelly (this isn't something I normally get to eat- especially with the naughty peanut butter instead of almond butter), and fancy drinks. 

Shockingly- I had a safe sex on the beach...WHAT?! WHO COULD HAVE GUESSED?! 

Rico had one of his extra hoppy IPA's that I bought him for Christmas. 

After lots of chatting- and a video of our niece saying our names that we watched over 50 times (No- really) were both in better moods...until I realized that laying on the floor for over an hour while pregnant was NOT my best idea. 

Then it got REALLY crazy. We cleaned the blinds in the office, and painted the trim/molding. Then I finally showered for the day. Then I went to bed.

Living the dream baby. Living the dream.

#3 My "workouts"

So, everyday I have a list of "exercises" I need to do to help get me ready for labor. 

They are VERY different from the high intensity workouts/ lifting I was doing a year ago today. 

The walking...that's easy. I just pack workout clothes for work and take to the hallways before I head home. 

One day I got to actually walk around our lake like a normal human being. Yes, the lake is still frozen- but it was 58 degrees on my walk (until 3 hours later when it was snowing again)

Some of the other moves are a little less easy to remember to do- but I've managed to fit them into my daily routine.

Here I'm "tailor sitting" (to help stretch my hips/ thighs for labor...and possibly reduce the risk of varicose veins) while I dry my hair. 

I also do my kegals at this point (to help with stronger pushing in labor, and to reduce the risk of tearing)...gosh, don't you LOVE being over-informed?!

 Rico said this was his "artistic shot" 

I hold a squatting position (to stretch...well we'll just say, "things" to reduce tearing during labor) everyday for a few minutes as I pet Max when I get home. It's win-win.

#4 A New Line of Questioning

People no longer ask me "When are you due?"

NOW they say, "How much time do you have left?"

JUST today I was asked: 

"Are you tired?" (to be fair, I was fiddling with my belt and making a very exasperated face as I was trying to get it to not fall off me)

"So, Mrs. Brown, who is going to be our new teacher when you have the baby?"

"When are you going to take your leave?Are you working until you pop?"

"Are you super uncomfortable yet?" (me: "Not yet, thankfully) 

"Well you WILL be"

And then the BEST ONE: a freshman boy, "So- how far apart are your contractions?"

Yes. He ACTUALLY asked me that. 

When did that happen?

Maybe when my profile started looking like this.

Max is Cute

Can we just take a moment to appreciate how adorable my dog is? 

 I was laying down and he came on over and propped right on up against the bump.

I hope they are BFF's like this when Eli comes out to play. 

Free Time

Between MLK Jr. day and a canceled birthing class...I had a little extra time on my hands. 

I made some bow-ties that I can snap onto onsies for little Eli.
As he gets older, I can just snap these ties onto the bigger onsie sizes.
For the record: Rico's reaction each time I show him a new one is to roll his eyes.

We watched "The Happiest Baby on the Block" our minds were BLOWN. We looked at each other and decided that we needed a crying infant IMMEDIATELY.

Well, we're short on those (for now), so instead we decided to try 4 of the 5 s's on Maximus. 

Ladies and gentlemen: Swaddling, side, shhhh-ing, and swinging. 

We opted out of "sucking", for obvious reasons.

We also called a doula.
Rico found her...I realize that's not normal.
Here's how it went down (e-mail style):

"I don’t know if I’m over stepping anything here….but I found our Doula. After reading many bios, I’ve settled on this one.

I do understand that you’ll want to look and find the right fit for you. The reasons I picked her.

-The first picture on her site is her family instead of a bunch of ladies without shirts on."

(insert a long list of other, more valid reasons that I won't bore you with)

                      "Boom. Feel free to look around, but remember….I’m the situationalist."

THANK YOU RICO! I hate making decisions. 

AND...he IS the ultimate situationalist.

So, our first interview with a doula is in the making. 

We talked on the phone first- she said we didn't sound creepy- so that's a good sign. 

What a productive night last 2 days!

Pump it Up

I've been emailing co-workers (and making Rico do the same even though he first tried to say he was NOT going to ask his co-worker about a pump because that was "awkward and too personal"- eventually he caved and took his first sacrifice of pride for the baby. Nicely done babe.)

I called my insurance company way back over Thanksgiving break and got a list of providers they covered. 

I googled said providers. 

I got overwhelmed (people- just have a website and put information on it! Please.) and quit the entire process until today. Yes, almost 3 months later.

I called said providers.

Clearly, in channeling my inner Rory Gilmore, I made pro/con lists for each company.

Here's what I've learned...besides the boring stuff

There are some companies that ONLY sell 1 model, and it is a manual model. Really?

Only 3 companies sell the model I want.

Lenexa is apparently the holy ground for all medical supply companies.  

When you can get women free* breast pumps- you can have WHATEVER hours you want. 

4 days a week- why not?

Only open till 4 so no one that works can get to you? Sure!

You can NOT plan ahead and get a breast pump. You are NOT allowed to order one in January when you aren't due until April. 

In fact, it was borderline selfish for you to ask such a question.

Clearly in wanting to get yours taken care of early you are REALLY just trying to rip a breast pump out of the hands of a mother who goes into labor early and didn't already order a pump. 

You are rude, and you lose mom points. 

Oops. 

Temperament

In my Parenting classes yesterday we talked about nature vs nurture and temperament. We discussed how there may be a genetic factor in temperament because we find that even infants display those natural tendencies. They figured out their temperaments and shared stories about how they knew (mainly because I like to see what I'm working with so I can adjust my teaching- but with the added bonus of the HILARIOUS stories that always come from the "difficult" temperament groups)

Without fail, every class asked: "What do you think Eli is?"

"If I had to guess, I would say "easy" because he tends to wake up and have a kicking party at right about 9pm and right about 5:30 every morning regardless of what I am doing.... But that could just be wishful thinking"  (both Rico and I were somewhere between "easy" and "slow to warm up" babies- so it would be an easy match)

Here's a video of a little kick. (You'll see me inhale and then right above my bellybutton you'll see him kick)

Last night, Eli was rumbling around (yes, rumbling, not kicking) and I looked up at the clock: 9:07.

This morning I was woken up by him and I looked at the clock and laughed- 5:35.

Dearest son: you are awesome- and I love that you are reinforcing a point I made in class, but it is Saturday. Saturdays are for sleeping in.

Oh- wait, babies don't care about weekends? Well, that sucks.

...and on an unrelated note: here's a pregnancy profile update. We were headed to our Bradley class- and this time I DIDN'T wear a dress- as that can make practicing squatting in a room of new acquaintances pretty awwwwwk-ward.

Lesson learned.

Belly in the Buff

Fair warning: you are about to see the belly in the buff. 

I spent the weekend snuggling with the men in my life. 

Max had his first official kick to the face from Eli 

(he's kicked Max MANY times, but this is the first time it actually startled Max)

Eli saves his best kicks for bedtime, where Rico gets to feel. It's our nightly routine to feel a few kicks together before Rico forces me lets me go to sleep at my pregnancy bed-time while he stays up late with all the real adults of the world. 

100% honesty, this was actually taken in the morning. 

When I wake up before Rico on the weekends I make let him feel Eli move in the hopes that it will wake him up and I can't technically be blamed.