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.