Mommy Metalmouth and Her Baby Jumbo Shrimp

My mouth hurts. I know I chose this and all, and I know that I'm investing a good amount of money into it, but orthodontics is for the birds. They left my palette expander in, but I am done expanding. This is great news. They will remove that when I get my lower braces on in 6 weeks.


Until then, I look like this:



My picture-perfect orthodontist Dr. Smith (more about her at a later date...) says at least 18 months of the metalmouth. Oh goody. We'll have an 11-month old Baby Cute by then! How's that for a reality check?!


I can't decide if I wish I would have done this sooner, even as a child. There is a part of me that knows I had enough trouble being an adolescent... I don't know that adding another "odd" thing to my persona would have been good for me. At this point in my life, I'm comfortable in my own skin and don't care much what others think about me, especially my appearance. So perhaps this is the PERFECT time to get braces.

I feel really weird today, and have felt just sort of "off" for about a day now. I can't explain it, but I feel sort of buggy. I tossed and turned a lot last night (thus why I look like crap in my metalmouth pose) and chose to just stay in bed this morning until my 10 a.m. appointment. The extra sleep helped, but I can't tell you how. Oh, and I didn't do my hair either... Apparently I'm a slacker, have pity on me.


It's comforting to be able to assume that Baby Cute is ok. This week's update says the baby is about as big as a jumbo shrimp. This makes for a very interesting children's book title... or perhaps just a nice blog post title instead.


We have a nice weekend planned that I'm really looking forward to. If all goes well, I will have the motivation to lug out my spring clothes and do a little sorting and switching tonight and tomorrow to encourage spring to come on strong.


Here is my 13-week update... My belly is not conducive to having a baby belly for at least another few months, so hang in there everyone. It's also weird that my baby pees and breathes amniotic fluid. That's just a tad on the gross side for me. Anyway, I send my love to you all.


Your belly may soon be big enough to announce to the world that you're expecting, but your baby is still tiny. In fact, he's only about 3 inches long, crown to rump — roughly the size of a jumbo shrimp — and weighs just about an ounce. Despite being so small, there's a fully formed baby inside your womb now who's much more proportional than he was a few weeks ago. In previous weeks, your baby's head dwarfed the rest of him — but now his head is only about a third the size of his body. His tiny, unique fingerprints are already in place. His kidneys and urinary tract are functional, and he's starting to urinate out the amniotic fluid he's been swallowing. As you start your second trimester, most of your baby's critical development will be completed, and your odds of miscarriage drop considerably.

Happy 13 weeks Baby Cute!

So I guess an apology is in order for all of you that I got fired up last week with the news of Baby Cute.... I sort of abandoned the blog! Here's my excuse--I feel better. I feel, well, normal. Like myself. My appetite is back, I only gag lightly in the morning and my pants fit fine.

Here are a few fun updates anyway... I promise to be better about keeping ya'll informed.

* We got our first baby gift! MomCarolyn's cousin Susie sent an ear thermometer and an adorable elephant toy along with her son Ron who visited last week for the boys state finals. It is so, so, so cute! Yes, Mom, I sent a thank you note.

* I got to meet baby Tayden! Carolyn was kind enough to invite me for lunch in Big Rapids last Saturday with Grandma W, Aunt Dianne, cousin Michelle, Aunt Helen and the new baby! He is so very little and SO cute! He has Michelle's nose, which I happen to think is one of her cutest features. He is only drinking about 2 ounces every 2 hours, but I was lucky enough to feed him while we had lunch at Applebee's. It was also a beautiful, sunshiny day so I really enjoyed the drive. I was a little greasy from my AMAZING massage, but I don't think anyone cared. :)

* I was cajoled into starting my baby registry. I worked at the registry desk all day on Sunday and after setting up registries for SEVERAL people due in late October and even November, I was convinced that putting my information in the computer wouldn't hurt anyone. So, it's there, with random items that just happen to be my favorites. We won't add the bulk of things until we know if Baby Cute is a boy or a girl. But yes, I gave into baby store peer pressure.

* There seems to be a trend lately of people having boys! Many of the August mommies are finding out what they are having on my fave message board at the Nest, and I would say a good 75% are having boys. Random, but it also seemed for a while there that everyone was having girls. I guess like everyone says, you can guess, and you always have a 50/50 chance of being right.

* I get my braces on tomorrow. Ugh.

* I finally filled out all of my FMLA paperwork. It took some poking and prodding by our department secretary, but she was really hell-bent on getting it done. It cost me $10 for the OB office to fill it out (stoooopid!), but the secretary is off my back and I can officially be gone for 12 weeks from now on. Hooray.

* Easter is coming up! Carolyn and Dave are coming to my parents for dinner, so it will be fun to have our whole family (minus Melanie and Rob who will be in Florida) in one place.

* My sister Melanie is turning 30! We are celebrating in Chicago with Mediterranean cuisine and belly dancing on Friday, April 13. While not totally related, we are also moving Meredith and Jerry into their first condo. I keep meaning to check and see how much weight I can safely lift...

* I bought two new preggo books--Your Pregnancy Week by Week and 100,000 Baby Names. The week by week book is a nice supplement to What to Expect When You're Expecting (WTEWYE). In the future, I will highly recommend the week by week book. It is very calming and informative while the WTE series is all about what could go wrong. "I'm coughing--perhaps you have whooping cough. I'm thirsty--you're probably diabetic." I am embracing my pink-shoed Doc's advice and just relaxing.

It is also interesting to note that my Amazon.com purchases were subsidized by the Charles Schwab company. You see, I do online surveys once in a while (for example, I have to test a very well-known brand of pasta sauce that is sitting on my kitchen counter... too bad I can't stand the thought of spaghetti...). It's $5 here and $2 there, it's fun and I like it. So anyway, I did a qualifying survey (and actually qualified) and was invited to join a long-term Schwab focus group that is basically a bunch of young people answering questions about finances and retirement and financial planning and such. It's interesting stuff, and I get $10/month in Amazon gift certificates for being an active member. It's cool, and helps my shopping bug while not hurting our budget.

* I also think we've decided on flooring for the nursery. Dave (Carolyn's, not mine) suggested we look into bamboo flooring. It's good quality, low cost and environmentally friendly. Bamboo grows extraordinarily quickly and when processed is very comparable to hardwood. Dave (mine, not Carolyn's) and I went to Lowe's to check things out and it's good stuff. It's solid, pretty and relatively inexpensive--less than Pergo-brand laminate floors, which great considering that bamboo is actually solid wood and Pergo is plastic floor with wood grain. I'm not sure when we can cajole Dave into installing the floors in Baby Cute's room, but it is looking more and more affordable for us.

* Work is going well for me. This weekend is the Animal Welfare Judging Competition that I will attend on Saturday. I know what you're thinking--Baroo? Well, we have this animal welfare group at MSU. They are pretty kick-ass. Basically, my initiative helps fund them while they travel to different farms and take photos and make assessments of different kinds of agricultural practices as it relates to animal welfare. So, these sheep are housed in this kind of barn and these are housed outside. These calves are weaned from their mother immediately and these calves stay with their mothers for 4 weeks. It's put into an interactive Macromedia Breeze presentation. So this weekend students from 5 different universities are coming to campus to participate in a competition. They will go through various scenarios and then have to defend their decisions to a panel of judges who just HAPPEN to be animal welfare experts. Very, very interesting stuff. It will make for an interesting story.

* After the welfare judging competition, Dave and I are headed to Alma to watch the Final Four with our friends Matt, Leigh, Mike and Mel. It will be really fun to see them, and word on the street is that Matt and Leigh are done having kids and their baby stuff is open game. Hooray!

* And finally, I got a haircut. About an inch and a half, just enough to I can't pull it back and that my side bang is in my eye all day. It's cute, and I really like my stylist, LaVeda, more than I dislike how much she charges me. So I'm hooked.

I'll post my 13 week update tomorrow when I arrives in my inbox!

Margaritaville.

So according to today's BabyCenter.com update, the baby is now the size of a lime. This makes me wish wistfully for a margarita on the rocks with salt and lots of lime. Instead, I will be satisfied with my coocoo breakfast of Coco Puffs. Delicious!

Yesterday began Christmas in March for my David with the kick-off of the MHSAA Boys Basketball State Finals. There will be basketball, and lots of it, this weekend. I, on the other hand, will be getting a massage on Saturday morning, catching up on the 8 million movies I have not seen, possibly unpacking the basement to find my photo albums and games and otherwise going where I wish, letting the wind and my crazy hormones chart the course. It will indeed be a lovely weekend.

It's amazing to think about how quickly these last few weeks have gone by, and that I am nearing the end of my first trimester..... Other than that, I have nothing profound to say.

Your baby's hit the 2-inch mark (about the size of a lime) and weighs half an ounce. Her face is beginning to look more human. Her eyes, which started out on the sides of her head, have moved closer together on her face, and her ears are near their final positions. Your baby's intestines, which have grown so rapidly that they protruded into the umbilical cord, will start to move into her abdominal cavity about now. Her kidneys are secreting urine into her bladder. Her nerve cells have been multiplying rapidly, and synapses (neurological pathways in the brain) are forming. Your baby may have acquired more reflexes by now, including sucking, and she'll even squirm if you prod your abdomen, though you still won't be able to feel her move for several weeks.

(3-D ultrasound picture... apparently this technology isn't available anywhere in Michigan but one OB office in Troy. In some big cities, you can pay to go in and have a 3-D ultrasound done in places called "Womb With a View")

Squirmy Baby Cute

We had a great appointment yesterday with our OB, Dr. Tucker. First of all, Dr. Tucker is a young black woman, pregnant with her second baby AND she was wearing pink shoes. We already liked her a lot, but the shoes pretty much sealed the deal. She answered any and all questions that we had and then some. Most of all, she was comforting and genuinely happy for us. She gave us less to worry about than half of the people who know I'm pregnant, and encouraged us to worry as little as possible.

How's that for an appointment? :)

Big news is that she changed my due date from 10-4 (good buddy) to 10-10 based on the size of Baby Cute. Baby Cute was also being very shy and didn't want us to hear the heartbeat on the doppler. Intsead, Baby Cute wanted her picture taken. So in rolled the ultrasound tech and within moments, my stomach was covered in goo and there was Baby Cute!

I know, not a fabulous picture.

We joke that Baby Cute looks just

like me. hee hee hee

I was feeling a lot better than our emergency room ultrasound, and the tech was nice enough to just let us watch Baby Cute for a while. Baby Cute had a heartrate of 168, very good. Turns out Baby Cute is VERY squirmy and was moving around a ton. This makes me smile, every time I think about having a squirmy baby. Apparently, while I was an ideal baby who loved to cuddle on my Mom's lap, David was squirmy. Oh good, right?

We opted not to do any of the genetic testing offered by the clinic as we have no risk factors for anything and false positives are just too common for us to even bother with the added worry.

Otherwise, the appointment was very matter-of-fact. I've lost 5 pounds, and that's not a bad thing. My blood pressure is ok, not great, but ok. I have Rh positive blood, so I don't need a shot to protect Baby Cute in case she/he is Rh negative like her Daddy. I don't have TB, all of my immunizations are still active enough to satisfy the docs and my uterus is about the size of a grapefruit, which is perfect.

I am feeling much better and eating pretty normally these days. I am starting to crave salt a little more than usual and have been a big fan of veggies and dip. This goes well with the new grill, as Dave loves a quick meal of meat on the grill and veggies. Delish!

Here's Dave with his new, fabulous grill.

That's about all for now, but mark your calendars, ladies and gentlemen! Baby Cute will have his/her big ultrasound on May 22. Then we can put this he/she debate to rest.

Getting pumped.

So to make a long, long story short, Dave and I spent most of Saturday evening and Sunday morning in the emergency room. I'm fine, as is Baby Cute, but we had a rough 24 hours.

I woke up feeling fine on Saturday and we enjoyed the Lansing Home & Garden Show until early afternoon, when we went home to nap and chill like slugs for the rest of the day. I slept for a couple of hours, then moved to the couch, where I felt progressively worse. I eventually sent Dave out for Pepcid and Unisom/Vitamin B6, both on the safe list given to us by my OB. So I took both and proceeded to throw up. Every hour. For 6 hours. Around 10 p.m. I finally called my Mom and asked for her advice. She thought a trip to the ER wasn't a bad idea, so I called Dave who rushed home from work and we checked into Sparrow around 10:30 p.m.

Again, long story short, we left about 6:30 a.m. after waiting until around 4 a.m. to get into a "curtain" and see a very nice resident. She took one look at my dry, parched tongue and said "oh yeah, you need some fluids." I had a small breakfast and really nothing since that at 9:30 a.m., so yeah, I was a TAD dehydrated. So TWO BAGS of IV fluids indeed went in, along with an anti-nausea medication called "Reglan" that I need to remember the name of. Why? Well, because I have a reaction to Reglan that makes me want to pull out the IV and run the heck away from the hospital. Dave just thought it was me, but it's apparently a common side effect.

Dave showed off his amazing sleeping skills by balancing himself between two plastic chairs and snoozing on and off. I managed to get comfortable enough on the hospital "cot-thingee" to snooze through one bag of fluids and patiently stare at the second one, realizing that I was feeling better and better with each passing moment. We got discharged and slept well into Sunday afternoon.

The highlights of the evening/morning include:
1. Getting an ultrasound!!! Baby Cute is just fine, ladies and gentlemen! We have a heartbeat and a well-developed gestational sac. Our resident is getting certified in ultrasound monitoring, so she asked if she could "practice." Absolutely! It was fun, and really made all of the waiting worth it. We even got a couple of fuzzy pictures! :)
2. Seeing a local pizza delivery dude who had been jumped by a group of punks after delivering pizza to a student-laden apartment complex. At one point he said to his friend, "Well, I hope they catch those jerks so I can tell the kid who hit me that he hits like a girl."
3. Not one, nor two, but THREE young blonde girls carried in along with their entourage of drunken friends. All three incoherent, trying to convince their friends to let them walk back to the dorms and put them to bed. Ugh.
4. Multiple visits by the Lansing Police for "blood draws." Who doesn't love St. Patrick's Day?

My Mom is the best and made it a point to come and visit on Sunday afternoon just because she needed to see for herself that I was ok. She had also exercised her amazing shopping skills AND remembered that we returned my birthday present so she brought me a NEW one! In pink paper! She discovered the Motherhood Maternity outlet at Birch Run and purchased a fabulous array of clothes including a GORGEOUS black and white polka dot dress that screams "Throw me a Baby Shower, I'm the cutest pregnant fat lady ever!" It was a wonderful surprise and fun to see her, my Dad and Baby Bella Puppy 2-1-2 who terrorized Runa.

I am ok, a little weak, still not eating a ton, but I am drinking my fair share of fluids. I slept well last night and I made it into work ok today, but I may head home and take my work with me--I'm pretty light-headed.

Reasons to be happy.

So today on my fave baby message boards at TheNest.com there was an Ocotber Mommy post. The question of the day is "Why are you happy to be due in October?"

This post made me smile and it really changed my thinking. It seems like everyone says, "OH, you're going to be so uncomfortable and hot and sweaty and etc. etc. etc." Well, thanks, but there is really nothing I can do about that! So the post made me think of my list of why I am excited to be having Baby Cute in October. Here goes:

1. Being off for three months means I can come back to work fresh at the beginning of 2008. I started my new job in Jan. 2006, we bought our house in Jan. 2007, so starting 2008 on a new foot will be great too.

2. I love 6-9 month old age babies. So Baby Cute in March/April/May in the springtime makes me so happy. And we'll have a creepy/crawly/busy baby in the summer so we can go up north and play in the lake and set up a kiddie pool in our yard.

3. Three words--Baby Halloween Costumes. Need I say more?

4. Getting to recover from pregnancy under the careful coverage of bulky sweaters and pants.

5. No one's birthday directly next to Baby Cute's due date, but still within the fun fall lineup of birthdays with Rob, Nate, Dave N., Meredith, Jerry and Grandma N.

6. Having perfect weather for baby shower time with no worries about people getting stuck in the snow.

7. Being free for the holidays with our families.

8. Baby Cute coming close to winter means MomCarolyn can come and stay with us when she is laid off and help Dave get the hang of daily baby care.

9. Baby Cute will be big enough not to just flop over in cute Christmas outfits.

10. God blessed us with Baby Cute and knew he/she was supposed to be born in October. That may be the best reason of all.

I am 11 weeks today. For some reason, that makes me particularly happy. There is something about the end of the first trimester being so close that makes me feel so hopeful. Not that I've done anything in particular to contribute to Baby Cute's development other than provide nutrients, but it seems like a big accomplishment for all three of us.

I'm looking forward to this weekend. MomCarolyn is coming to visit and we are going to meet Tayden Thomas on Saturday. David has to work tomorrow night, so Carolyn and I are going to go and look at flooring for the nursery. Other than barfing in the morning, I have been feeling pretty good, so having a few things to do this weekend seems extra fun.

Oh, and I was going to encourage any/all of you who are reading to please comment! I know there is someone out there reading, but it would be good to know who! :)

Nanawannabe

So for those of you who haven't had the immense pleasure of meeting my mother-in-law, Carolyn, you are really missing out. I met David in January 2000, he moved back to Central Lake in February 2000 and I went to visit him there that spring. So, still a new relationship, but we had fallen for each other quickly.

I remember Carolyn meeting me at the door of her home, hugging me and making me feel immediately welcome. I remember loving their dog, Rufus, even though he stole my socks and underwear to carry around the house. I remember Carolyn's amazing cooking and being pleased at how many books they had throughout their home. Carolyn and her husband Dave (not to be confused with MY husband, David) have always been wonderful parents to me. Coming from a family of six, being the "one and only kiddos" was a whole new world, and one that makes our families different, while still refreshingly similar in values and affection.

So, one of the first people we told about Baby Cute was Carolyn. While it has calmed down (or she has hidden it very well) over our seven years of acquaintance, Carolyn has baby fever. Specifically, grandbaby fever. I remember shaking my head and realizing that she was already visualizing grandchildren when I was just starting to think about myself in a big white dress.

When the stick finally showed the line Carolyn has been waiting for, she was one of the first people I thought of. David told her while he was there, with me anxiously listening on the other end of the phone. David has compared her reaction to many things, including a jumping bean, a bouncy ball and Winnie-the-Pooh's friend Tigger.

So in honor of Carolyn, I will tell one of my favorite Carolyn stories as of late.

Carolyn's cousin Susie has two kids, one of whom, Ron, is a partner in the family business of funeral homes and lives down the street and around the corner from Carolyn (above the funeral home, actually). Ron has a fabulous wife, Holly, who I have loved since the moment I met her, and three kids--Janie, Isaac and Gavin. I have a special fondness for Gavin because he was born JUST as David and I were falling in love. It has been fun to measure the "age" of our relationship by Gavin-years. Gavin also happens to be an amazing kid. He loves frogs, is afraid of nothing and has just enough charm and good looks to keep him out of all of the trouble he finds himself in.

Carolyn loves Susie's grandkids, and has been known to have Janie over to bake pies, Gavin over to hunt for frogs in their pond and all three over whenever there may be dessert involved.

So, this is the story as I remember hearing it, sorry if the details are messed up Carolyn--One of Gavin's unknowing friends asked him one day who the heck Carolyn was. She's around all the time, but apparently this kid had missed Carolyn's very important role. The second friend simply replied--"Oh her, she's Gavin's Nana-Wanna-Be."

I LOVE that story, and had forgotten it until Carolyn signed off her email today:

Love, MomCarolyn (who has graduated from a Nana-wanna-be to a Grandma-soon-to-be, thanks to you two)

It touched my heart and made me realize just how important Baby Cute is to so many people that we love.

Ah, love. Ain't it grand?


Come to find out...I have very few pics of Carolyn. Here she is (far left) along with her siblings Patti, Chuck and Dianne and Grandma Irene at the 2005 family reunion.

Cookie monster.

I find that I am most inspired to post in Baby Cute's blog when I am eating and/or thinking about food. Sorry for those that this trend may annoy.

However, I love thin mints. I am proud of my lifelong affiliation with Girl Scouts, but my devotion to them only becomes more adamant during cookie time. Today, also, Baby Cute decided that he/she hates juice now and only wants water. This is fine, and thank goodness that the Culligan man visits my office monthly. It is truly delicious water.

Today, March 12, also marked the end of my claim "I've been continually nauseous, but haven't thrown up yet." Oh, poor bloated pregnant ladies with morning sickness that involves puking. I do not envy you. I'm just getting ready, brushing my hair and BAM! I've gotta toss my cookies (not thin mints, thank God). I've been fine since, but I am annoyed that my record of 0 vomit incidents has now ended.

We got to see some of my favorite people this weekend. Cat and Mark brought their adorable girls Grace (5) and Alice (4 months) over to visit on Saturday morning. I got to feed Ally and watch her use her new Boppy tummy time mat that I bought for her. She is full of smiles and was wearing a cute pink dress, so of course I'm in love. We gave Grace some water toys and (in total defiance of my father's NO WATER PLAY IN THE HOUSE rule) proceeded to fill up a dish tub full of water, sit her on a beach towel and let her go to work. It was way fun.

When the Brainerd's departed, we hit the road for Saginaw where we got to celebrate my Mom's happy birthday, albeit a few days late. She had a house full of flowers, so I was glad I went an alternate gift route. :) We stayed late, but not too late. The time change made it rough to get up for the baby store on Sunday, but it was a fun day and went quickly.

Now it's Monday again. No wonder time is flying!

David and I are going grocery shopping tonight, and I am trying to figure out how to sneak in a nap before we go.... Just one more hour of work today!

Almost forgot our 10 week update....

More from BabyCenter.com. They also sent me a nice magazine this month with articles about how much fun the second trimester is. I can hardly wait. :) My symptoms for this week may include excessive salivation. That is funny to me, and not something I've experienced thus far.

Your baby is no longer an embryo! Though she's barely the size of a kumquat — just an inch or so long, crown to bottom — and weighs less than a quarter of an ounce, she has completed the most critical portion of her development. This is the beginning of the so-called fetal period, a time when the tissues and organs in her body grow and mature rapidly. Her vital organs — the liver, kidney, intestines, brain, and lungs — are now in place and starting to function, although they'll continue to develop throughout your pregnancy. Her liver continues to make blood cells, and the yolk sac, which previously supplied these cells, is no longer needed and begins to disappear.

During the next three weeks, your baby's length will more than double to nearly 3 inches. Her head is proportionately smaller now than it was a few weeks ago, but it's still almost half the length of her entire body. Her forehead temporarily bulges with her developing brain and sits high on her head; it will later recede to give her a more human appearance. Each day, more minute details — including tiny fingernails, toenails, and peach-fuzz hair — start to appear on her body. Her fingers are now completely separated; her arms bend at the elbow and curve slightly; her hands are flexed at the wrist and meet over her heart; her legs are lengthening; and her feet may be long enough to meet in front of her body. She is busily swallowing amniotic fluid and kicking her legs.

If you could take a peek at your baby this week, you'd be able to clearly see the outline of her spine through her parchment-thin skin. Spinal nerves are beginning to stretch out from her spinal cord.

A future in stretch pants.

I guess feeling good makes me less likely to blog about Baby Cute. My nausea returned, but it is much more manageable and not as much of a burden on me as it was before. Overall, I am just tired. More tired than I was at the beginning of Baby Cute's journey, actually.

I caved in and just took yesterday off from work. I felt drugged, like someone had slipped me something to make me extra sleepy. Dave assured me it was ok to take a day off, and I slept until noon. I woke up to eat, then vegetated on the couch for a couple of hours snoozing on and off. When Dave got home from substitute teacher training he convinced me that it was time to stop putting off getting my bloodwork done. First, he bribed me with cheese enchiladas and then held my hand while a very nice phlebotomist got my vein on the first try. Whew, that was a relief. I'm SO glad it's done.

My pants still fit, but they are becoming increasingly uncomfortable. It's hard to describe, as they button the same, but the feeling of things around my waist is incredibly annoying. I refuse to cave and buy maternity work clothes yet, but stretch pants are becoming more and more attractive! I believe I am also getting this so-called "round ligament pain" which is sharp, random pain in my crotch. Something is stretching, I guess. Sorry, Meredith, the list of random symptoms goes on and on. :)

Dave got his first substitute assignment today! He spent the day at Okemos High School and said he had a wonderful time! He sounded very happy on the phone. He is "having a Natalie day" (his term, not mine) and working both of his jobs. I miss him already, but Friday nights have become a nice routine of wandering around stores and picking up the house for me. We have fun plans for tomorrow, including seeing Cat, Mark and their girls and then traveling to Saginaw to have dinner with my Mom the birthday girl.

I am hoping to unpack my camera reader this weekend so I can post some of the photos we have taken so far, including me buried by my ebay maternity clothing treasures and Dave with the official "pregnant" stick. Stay tuned for that.

Last night at the baby store, there were 3 of the 5 of us that are pregnant working. The jokes about not drinking the water were funny, but it was also a night for sharing horror stories about labor and delivery. Ugh, if I hear one more episiotomy story I am going to SCREAM.

For right now, Baby Cute and I have an agreement. Growing healthy and strong in exchange for having the best Mommy possible in just 7 months. We'll worry about blood, sweat and tears later.

I *heart* pickles

Well, I don't want to dip them in ice cream or eat them with peanut butter, but I am LOVIN' me some pickles. Delicious!


My nausea seems to have subsided, and boy what a difference that has made. I feel much more like myself and so much more productive at home and work. It is also much easier to drink 64 million ounces of water a day, which will be important if this pickle-lovin' continues to prevent blowing up like a puffer fish.

GREAT news! Dave's cousin Michelle had her baby boy! Tayden Thomas was born at 1:40am today via c-section after poor Michelle's water broke at 7am yesterday. He is 5 lbs, 10 oz, 18" long. I can't wait to meet him, and I know my fabulous mom-in-law Carolyn can't wait for us to tell Grandma and Grandpa Wiacek and her sisters and brother. I promise we will call tonight, Carolyn!

We had a wonderful weekend! We cleaned the house on Saturday morning and my glorious husband, David, has been doing a great job keeping the house maintained during the week, so I got to do the nit-picky cleaning I find so very rewarding. We cooked a tasty Mexican lunch from Dave's fav cooking magazine "Simple and Delicious" and we had our friends Jessica and Brian over for lunch and chat. It was so nice to show off our house, although Jessica has made me aware that our stairs are steep and difficult to climb at 34 weeks pregnant. I will make note.

After Jess, Brian and Baby left I read my "What to Expect When You're Expecting" book and David watched basketball until we left for Owosso. The small-town rendition of Beauty and the Beast was very well-done, accented especially well by my friend Kate as Babette the Feather Duster. We had dinner with our friends Amber and Alex before the show and had HORRIBLE service, but great conversation and Oreo/whipped cream fluff on the salad bar.

We got home late and I worked all day on Sunday, but not before a delicious breakfast of toaster waffles and fruit. Mmmm, fabulous! I worked baby registry and seriously did 16 new registrants and 6 updates. If you don't know, that's a TON. But it was fun and I felt energized at the end of the day instead of exhausted. Good 'ol Baby Store.

Let me take just a moment and rant about maternity clothes, specifically plus-size maternity clothes. There is literally nowhere I can go and try on clothes. This had forced me to Ebay, but after winning too many auctions I have put myself on an Ebay hiatus. I know my pants are getting less comfortable with my disappearing waistline, but I'm not ready for full on kangaroo pouches either. *sigh* Perhaps I will take up sweatpant fashion until my belly really grows...

The only other fun news is that David felt my uterus this weekend. Seriously, it was cool. It is all thick and there right under my lower fat roll. He was thrilled, and I am happy to have something cool or weird or different to amuse him with. :)

I'm wrapping up several smaller projects here at work today, so the bigger ones I have been planning to attack are up next. This coincides well with my lack of nausea and love of pickles. Why, you may ask? Well, pickles are much easier to grab and eat quickly than fruit, of course!

Thanks to all of you who expressed concern after my little fender bender, things are just fine!

*sigh*

I had a rough morning. The greater Lansing area is a big sheet of ice and my car and perfect driving record are now one of the casualties. Driving down Washington listening to the radio, I decided that due to reports of accidents at EVERY exit I was going to pass on my way to work, I would take an alternate route. So I put on my blinker, looked both ways and turned right onto Elm, a side street just a few blocks up from my neighborhood. Well, I turned a little too wide, started sliding immediately and while staring directly at the nice man in the pickup truck in front of me hit him going very slowly. Both of our cars are driveable, very minor damage, and we agreed there was no way the police were going to have time to come out to the scene. So we exchanged information and I went back home to call in my claim. Turns out insurance does come in handy, but UGH! I DON'T want to pay for anymore car repairs and I DON'T want to pay my deductible and I DON'T want my rates to go up. ROAR.

Here is my nine-week update from Baby Center:

Check out the lack of tail!

Your baby is nearly an inch long — barely the size of a grape — and weighs just a fraction of an ounce, but he's poised for rapid weight gain now that his basic physical structure is in place. He's also starting to look more and more human. His embryonic tail is now completely gone, and his development of his body parts — including organs, muscles, and nerves — is kicking into gear. His eyelids completely cover his eyes now and are fused shut. They won't open until 27 weeks. He has earlobes, and by week's end, the inner workings of his ears will be complete. His upper lip is fully formed, too, and his mouth, nose, and nostrils are more distinct. The tips of his fingers are slightly enlarged where his touch pads are developing. Your baby is now able to move all his limbs. As for his heart, it's divided into four chambers now, and the valves have started to develop. Your baby's external sex organs are present now but won't be distinguishable as male or female for another few weeks.

I would also like to add a small section from the "How your life is changing" section of this email:

You may be feeling extra gassy or bloated now, too. That's primarily because the major doses of progesterone your body produces early in pregnancy relax smooth muscle tissue throughout your body, and that includes your gastrointestinal tract. This relaxation slows your digestive processes, which can cause more gas, bloating, burping, flatulence, and generally miserable sensations in your gut, especially after a big meal.

So I have official permission to be as gassy and bloated and burpy as I wish. That has been my own personal "morning sickness" routine. Just as I feel I'm going to puke, I let out a huge belch. Go figure. Dave finds it amusing, as I was raised by a lovely woman who was not big on public displays of bodily functions. I'm less than thrilled, but again, things could be much worse.

That's all I've got for this morning. Burping, flatulence and a broken headlight.

Circulation and Sanity.

Well, after two phenomenally nausea-free days I woke up this morning and just couldn't hoist myself out of bed. So I stayed in bed. I am remiss to use any of my precious sick/vacation time because of our fragile finances, but sometimes when you're down, it's best to stay down. I came in to work around noon and was lucky to find a good parking spot, so my day has been consistently brightening up since then.

A few random notes about this pregnancy. First, the baby is stealing my blood. Now, realize that I am well-insulated. I hate being cold. Why the heck else am I carrying around all of this extra padding (read--fat)? Well, I've been colder than ever, very prone to shivering and wearing multiple pairs of socks and sweatshirts pretty constantly in the house. This was something I could deal with. Well, Baby Cute, you've gone too far. This week I discovered that my fingers and toes turn purple when I'm cold. I have childhood memories of my friend Beth being pretty consistently purple, but she was a STICK figure. Grrrr. I thought my feet were dirty before I got in the shower one morning. I've since discovered that no, behind my toes was just purply gray. To fight back, we are turning up the heat in the house and I am just adding extra padding, in the form of clothing this time. I knew my body would change, but my circulation? Wowee, you are a powerful parasite, Baby Cute.

While Baby Cute still likes fruit, really no food sounds good. We enjoyed grilled cheese and tomato soup IMMENSELY this week and pickles and chocolate chip cookies danced around on my tastebuds like they were tapdancers. Delish! But really those are the only food highlights. It's a good thing I'm taking the horse pills (a.k.a. prenatal vitamins) and the free samples I got of fish oil pills. I am currently debating with my stomach about what to eat... I'm running on a Pepsi and a bowl of frosted miniwheats.

Not only was telling my sibs fun, they are also tremendous resources for me. Turns out Jerry Lewis (my brother-in-law, not the telethon dude) is not only a pen guy, but also a potential baby product goldmine! His company's partnership includes Graco products. Hooray! This is the stroller and carseat that I love best. They are the French Roast pattern.




While they aren't available to him yet, the savings may just sway me toward another pattern that is on his company intraweb.

My sister Melanie also posted in her online journal about how happy she is to be an auntie again. I forget that all of you out there are randomly thinking about Baby Cute, too, so when I realize that you are it makes me happy. I am such a worry wart that the extra thoughts and prayers that are out there sure make David, Baby Cute and me feel better.

Speaking of Davids, for those of you who don't know, we have been following Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover plan since October of 2005. In that time we haven't used any credit cards and paid off all of our consumer debt other than one big credit card we are tackling bit by bit. It is the reason I started working at the baby store and a BIG point of pride for David and I. We paid our mortgage for the first time this month and we sat down to have our "Oh my God we're having a baby, now what the heck do we do" Pow-Wow this week. It looks like we are going to be just fine. There are many people out there who do a lot more with a lot less, so we are thankful. We'll have to modify Dave Ramsey's plan to fit our needs, beef up our emergency fund to cover my unpaid maternity leave, set aside some of our house projects and forget about taking another "just us" vacation, but really the thought of being home with Baby Cute for a few months is SO much more appealing than Pina Coladas and getting caught in the rain.

Also, given that daycare in the Lansing area ranges from $125 (home) to $275 (center), we have decided that David is going to stay home with Baby Cute. He's excited, and I'm relieved about not becoming the "super mom" that I know all too well, rushing around with sick kids, doctors' appointments, housework and household management. I love working, and I love my job, so the emotional, financial, and mental benefits of having a stay at home (SAH) parent is really comforting to me. Dave will need some training from the Moms and we'll make it up as we go along, but not worrying about getting on a waiting list for a $1,000/month daycare center with 10 babies and 3 workers in one room is a tremendous relief to us both.

Not to get ahead of myself, but this also puts less restrictions on how many Baby Cutes we can have, too. My observations have been that 2 is just about the maximum that a two-income family can handle before it just doesn't make sense to work outside the home. Not that we're having 5 kids, but that part of family planning isn't nearly as tough on my worrisome mind.

For as hectic as our February was, March is very calm. We are traveling to Owosso on Saturday to see the off-off-off-off-off Broadway production of "Beauty and the Beast" that one of my Lansing friends is performing in, having dinner with another Lansing-friend couple before that and I'll work at the baby store on Sunday. I'm looking forward to Saturday morning in our new house. Perhaps we'll even begin to tackle the PILES and PILES taking over the eventual nursery. Or maybe I'll sleep and eat pickles and chocolate chip cookies (but not at the same time).

Today is my nine-week mark and Baby Cute is officially a fetus. Way to go, Baby Cute!