whoosh whoosh whoosh

Today is one of those days that I will remember for a long time. I am officially heavier than I ever have been. (My last doctors appointment was the heaviest I've ever weighed myself, but it's possible that I weighed more than that at one point but didn't get on a scale.) But today, at the doctors office, getting on that scale and watching the little slider thing continue moving higher and higher I caught a giggle in my throat. Wow, I am heavier than I've ever been. And it shows! The belly is there. Strangers notice it now. It's funny. (thank goodness it's a baby!)

My favorite parts of the doctor appointment are possibly seeing the advice nurse, Shelly (who gave me the H1N1 shot today) and hearing the heartbeat. Shelly is awesome and has helped me through many panic attacks and the heartbeat sounds funny. Dave and I try to make the noise often because it's not like you would think. It's like whoosh, whoosh, except at about 140 times per minute. So today when the doctor found the whoosh whoosh, she listened for longer than I could contain and I started to giggle. Well, she had to stop listening because my giggles interrupted the whoosh whoosh sound. She began again and I giggled again. She tried a few more times and I could not figure out why I couldn't stop giggling. I guess normally by that point the doctor has already flown out of the room and Dave and I do our little heartbeat dance and giggle celebrating this itty bitty life.

More Happy News

I was reading a 'good' news article today about a guy who won the lottery. This lovely 76 year old retired corrections officer won $6M. And what did he say about it? He said it's 'like getting the best piece of cake in the world'.

Seriously, how precious is that? The man won $6M. He compares it to eating a lovely confection. I want to have a phrase like that and use it regularly. I mean, I like cake. But I think I'd take a crunchy chocolate chip cookie over cake. Although I've had some seriously yummy cake. And does a cinnamon yummy (crumb/coffee cake) count as a cake? Hmmm...

I saw our baby today. I was looking at my belly when I was laying on my back (something they tell me I shouldn't do anymore) and it moved. My belly did a kind of wave. Not a hello/goodbye wave- THAT would freak me out, but like an ocean wave. It was neat. I was poking at it trying to make it do it again but it wouldn't do it on command (go figure). I'll attempt again, with an audience (Dave), because it was really neat. Baby is growing nice and big (or maybe that's because of the cookies and cakes...) but it is beautiful and I love to feel it bouncing around in there. I feel great- good energy level, healthy, sane.

At least I'm not alone...

I received this email today from a dear friend who is pregnant, due one month before me. I feel no guilt in laughing at her. Yes, you read that correctly. I am laughing at her, not with her. I welcomed her to my loony bin. For those concerned, she's doing much better tonight, but still has a little heartburn. Hang in there Kim! Here's her note:

I have a true story about my morning for you. I think Baby B is trying seriously making me CRAZY. I woke up at 2:30am thinking I might be hungry. By 3am I could not resist the urge for cereal so I got up for an hour watching tv and happily eating my cereal. When I tried to go back to sleep my mind started wandering and ALL I could think about was a sausage egg sandwich from Starbucks. So weird because this is so off the "normal" craving list lately and I have not been able to even say the word egg for about 5 months. Not to mention again that I had just eaten a whole bowl of cereal. So I stayed awake for the rest of the morning thinking of my sandwich and not getting ANY sleep.

After hours of staring at the ceiling I got out of bed and headed to work. On the way I stopped at Starbuck's to get my much thought about sandwich. I hesitantly ate the first bite because I did not know how my tummy was going to react and I was driving so things could go bad quickly. Amazingly I ate that beautiful sausage egg sandwich in about 10 seconds and didn't even flinch at the roof of my mouth burning because it was still so hot. Can I tell you how.good.it.tasted? I haven't eaten ANYTHING with so much enthusiasm for MONTHS. It was so good in fact that when I thought about it I burst into tears and cried the whole way into work.

I've dried my tears, have no more skin on the roof of my mouth, made it to work, am EXHAUSTED and have heartburn like CRAZY (god bless the inventor of tums), but I kind of want another sandwich. I have less then 100 days left of being pregnant then the real hormonal roller coaster begins. Am I going to make it? I hope you are having a MUCH better Thursday morning than I am and you got a little laugh at my adventures this morning. KB

Next home project

We always talked about making our basement more usable. It’s finished, but it’s really not finished.. It’s dark, the carpeting is very thin and the door leading to the bulkhead is hollow (not at all insulated). So we talked about making the basement a living space/TV room once our guest bedroom (soon to be baby’s room) and tv room (soon to be guest bedroom) get occupied.

It occurred to us that once we have a baby, it probably won’t be easy to get a worker in and not completely disrupt our lives. So we decided to, along with getting a new oil tank and feed line, redo the basement before the little peanut arrives. We have 3 people scheduled to give quotes and two in the wings. Last night we had the first contractor and his helper come along. They spent a fair amount of time looking around and writing up a quote. The quote seems fair, a bit higher than what I think it needs to be, he encouraged negotiation. We liked the thoroughness of the quote and I liked the way they talked. I initially thought they sounded like they are Dracula, from Transylvania. But they mentioned they’d speak to each other in Russian.

I think Dave wants to hire them because the helpers name is Igor. He’s little too. Sometimes even the most rational people (Dave) make irrational decisions. I’m game with going with these guys simply due to the fact that the helpers name is Igor too. And because they sound like Dracula.

Not quite the 'glow'

Someone said I looked tired today. And I don't often get told that but when she said it, I realized my eyes were kind of burning and I could feel a little wrinkle under each one, like a little bag. I went to the mirror and peeked at myself and I looked awful. Definitely not the 'glow' I've read about. I looked pooped.

I'd like to blame it on going to the gym this morning. Or maybe the time change. Or perhaps just the Monday morning wearys. But I don't think I can blame it on the baby just yet.

We're excited about many things about the arrival of the little one, but considering how much we enjoy sleeping, the lack of it is not something we very excited for. It's funny to be at this point in the pregnancy. I feel great- I'm happy and my excitement is growing. Mentally I feel a bit more stable (will I ever be completely stable?) and we have so much longer to wait! I'm only halfway through! We've got 4 more months to go! We've only known about this little one for 4 months. Holy moley! That's a long time to wait!

23 week belly picture

So the belly has grown. Certainly some shirts 'show off' the belly more than others. But even more exciting than the growing belly is that Dave felt the baby today. THAT is an exciting milestone. I don't agree with the comparison of butterfly flutters. I don't agree with the comparison of the fish tail, probably because I imagine a little goldfish. If someone said it feels like a 5 lb fish tail flopping around, I'd agree. But this is no mild little flutter. This is a thump thump. So Dave felt the thump today. And I LOVE that he felt it.

I wonder though, what is the baby doing in there? It is just trying out it's new motor skills and muscles? Or is it trying to flop around onto it's other side? Trying to get more comfortable? Trying to send a message? (more food, perhaps?) Just reminding me that everything is A-OK in there? Whatever it is, I LOVE IT!

Oh, and we got a gift from huggies today. How cute and little is this thing? I put a pen next to it for comparison. It is so tiny I can hardly believe it. It is things like this that make me very excited. Look how absolutely tiny is this.

Our baby, the pilot...

After a bumpy flight (in more ways than one) to Seattle, I believe our baby really enjoys flying. During the mild turbulence the baby was bouncing around as well. It was a joy to have some hours to just sit and just be. I think Baby must have enjoyed it too! Maybe it will be a pilot when it grows up.

Seattle was lovely, I had a great dinner with Aunt Liz and did some lovely work stuff. The people I work with make the trip truly pleasant and it was fun to surprise some of my clients with my big belly.

Speaking of that. My belly has grown (pictures to come tomorrow). My goodness, I was only gone for 4 days but I now look like I am having a baby. It is not a secret, it isn't just chubby, it is a baby. And the best part about it, Dave really loves it. He can't keep his hands off it. He makes this squeezing motion with his hands and just comes over to squeeze and rub it. It's beautiful.

I feel great. I feel happy and somehow assured things are going absolutely right. I feel mentally balanced (thank god) and aside from a few minor complaints, I feel great.