What a baby sees...
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/brain/episode1/infantvision/flash.html
(courtesy wendy chaney)
What a baby name does...
http://babynamewizard.com/namevoyager/lnv0105.html
(courtesy barnali ghosh)
Sunday, February 27, 2005
Thursday, February 17, 2005
Tuesday, February 15, 2005
On being 37 weeks pregnant
Technically speaking I'm not 37 weeks pregnant until tomorrow. But interestingly (so I think) today was filled with questions and comments that led to my unilateral decision that basically I'm 37 weeks pregnant now. For those of you that have been paying attention, you'll remember the significance of hitting 37 weeks. For those of you (like me) that need a reminder it is at this point that the potential birth of the child is no longer considered premature.
Of course, the past week has been filled with reassurances that most first pregnancies hit the 41-42 week mark no problem. In fact, until today, almost every birth story I had heard involving a first pregnancy had also involved threats of induction (ie. pregnancy gone long). Even the doctor calmly smiled and confirmed that yes, first pregnancies tend to go past 40 weeks, she saw no reason why ours wouldn't, and so we should settle in for the long haul.
Today, oh today, all that changed. With no prodding whatsoever I got no less than three stories of women delivering their first child before 40 weeks and two of them at (gasp!) 37 weeks. Um. Yeah. That's this week. This has also been accompanied by an interesting shift in belly comments - suddenly I'm "huge", "ready to pop", "bigger every day!", etc. One person even decided that I'd "dropped", which I would argue against, but there it is.
But, the reality is I'm more likely to deliver later, rather than sooner. Which basically means that I have up to 5 long weeks ahead of me, with each day a new wave of anticipation, fear, excitement, and the realization that more than half our house is in complete disarray at this point.*
* disarray - On Saturday evening, with dinner plans canceled, Zach and I debated going to a movie, but instead decided to... paint our living room. Now, to our credit (or not), we had decided to do this months ago. In fact, we had already bought the paint and the gear but had never gotten around to the actual painting. So, we figured, why not just do it now? Except now the living room is torn apart, the "dining" room is a combination of living room furniture and baby gear that we started to sort through, and the 2nd bed room (aka kid's room?) is full of unsorted baby gear. Now would be an excellent time to deliver.
Of course, the past week has been filled with reassurances that most first pregnancies hit the 41-42 week mark no problem. In fact, until today, almost every birth story I had heard involving a first pregnancy had also involved threats of induction (ie. pregnancy gone long). Even the doctor calmly smiled and confirmed that yes, first pregnancies tend to go past 40 weeks, she saw no reason why ours wouldn't, and so we should settle in for the long haul.
Today, oh today, all that changed. With no prodding whatsoever I got no less than three stories of women delivering their first child before 40 weeks and two of them at (gasp!) 37 weeks. Um. Yeah. That's this week. This has also been accompanied by an interesting shift in belly comments - suddenly I'm "huge", "ready to pop", "bigger every day!", etc. One person even decided that I'd "dropped", which I would argue against, but there it is.
But, the reality is I'm more likely to deliver later, rather than sooner. Which basically means that I have up to 5 long weeks ahead of me, with each day a new wave of anticipation, fear, excitement, and the realization that more than half our house is in complete disarray at this point.*
* disarray - On Saturday evening, with dinner plans canceled, Zach and I debated going to a movie, but instead decided to... paint our living room. Now, to our credit (or not), we had decided to do this months ago. In fact, we had already bought the paint and the gear but had never gotten around to the actual painting. So, we figured, why not just do it now? Except now the living room is torn apart, the "dining" room is a combination of living room furniture and baby gear that we started to sort through, and the 2nd bed room (aka kid's room?) is full of unsorted baby gear. Now would be an excellent time to deliver.
Tie-Dye-FUN!
This weekend (and heck, the last two weeks!) was filled with several notable baby events, but #1 on the list has got to the fantabulistic Berkeley Baby Bonanza! held by none other than the amazing Rebecca and splendid Barnali. Apparently they have a good grasp on the many issues that Zach and I have and held a most appropriate tie-dying party. We are now the proud owners of a wonderful collection of onsies, t-shirts, socks, and other baby clothing items in a range of enviable swirls, circles and stripes.
We are now also overwhelmed by how wonderful our friends are - not only are they quite talented tie-dye-ers, but they are also incredibly supportive and sweet as we embark on this crazy adventure. Thanks to everyone who came and twisted those little onsies up into colorful knots. It means so much to us that you haven't all gone running and screaming because we've gone and done this crazy procreation thing.
We are now also overwhelmed by how wonderful our friends are - not only are they quite talented tie-dye-ers, but they are also incredibly supportive and sweet as we embark on this crazy adventure. Thanks to everyone who came and twisted those little onsies up into colorful knots. It means so much to us that you haven't all gone running and screaming because we've gone and done this crazy procreation thing.
Labels:
pregnancy
Wednesday, February 02, 2005
FAQ #3: are you ready?
We're over the colds (mostly) and on to a million other things. The baby shower last weekend was lovely. And the best part was a special treat organized by Susie (my mother-in-law): a surprise visit from my very own mother! She flew out from Maryland/DC just for the weekend. What a wonderful weekend. And a wonderful present. The shower was mostly an "advice" shower, which was perfect since I was feeling a nervous about being "showered" with gifts from folks that I didn't know at all. And there were some lovely used baby items from these women (who were lovely themselves. Apparently I'm also now officially one of the "Mamelas").
We're are now at 35 weeks. It occurred to me today that what this means is that I'm two short weeks away from answering FAQ #1 with "any day now". Which leads me to FAQ #3: "are we ready?" Yikes. That's a loaded question. Fortunately, from what I can tell, there's only a few precious things needed to be prepared for an infant: a car seat (to get the kid home from the hospital), diapers (to catch the poop), warm things (to, uh, keep the baby warm), and working boobs (ie. food). The boobs are clearly working, we've got a serviceable carseat, we've got some clothing items, and they sell diapers in every corner store. So, uh, yes? I think we're ready?
But the question often is phrased with the words "baby's room" in it. On that front, no. Right now that room is a pile of baby gear of many many varieties. But that doesn't matter, right? The kid doesn't need a room to itself just yet (although it's stuff clearly does!).
Sometimes the question is phrased in a more pointed way, as in "are you ready for it to be over?" To that, in general, Yes. From what I can tell there are a couple of general camps that pregnant women fall into at this point in the pregnancy. One is that they are so gosh durn uncomfortable they just want it over. Another is that they're enjoying the pregnancy so much they don't want it to be over. Then there's the different types of worriers: the ones who want to keep the kiddo inside so they know all it's needs are taken care of; and the ones who want the kiddo out ASAP so they can see with their own eyes that everything is A-Okay.
Generally speaking, I'm pretty comfortable (except for that durn round ligament*) so in that respect I fall into the "doin' okay" camp. I also find it super cool all the things my body knows how to do to make a baby. And it's cool to feel that kid inside of me, just rolling around. As for the worrying - I'm firmly in the second camp: until I see the kid I will worry that something could happen at any moment. While there is only a remote chance of something going wrong at this point, that chance is still there. And it's very real for me as I miscarried my first pregnancy (which is sadly so common) and my mother lost her first child at 8 months.
The good news for the week is that everything looked great at our Dr's visit on Monday. She did an ultrasound to check the kids position (head down, facing to the back, ready to go!), we heard the heart beat, and she switched us from the leisurely monthly visit schedule to a weekly visit schedule. (!)
*For the uninitiated - the round ligaments apparently are the ligaments holding up my growing uterus. I find it interesting that these ligaments are rarely mentioned amongst the pregnancy woes, as I have found them to cause some of my worst pains of pregnancy. Basically, as I understand it, as the uterus grows these ligaments stretch. Yes. If you've ever sprained an ankle, you know that ligaments aren't so good at that. Calls to the advice nurse or mentions to the doctor come with knowing nods and reassurance that everything is normal. And no, there's not much that can be done. Except what my wonderful amazing Zach does, which is remind me to breathe, breathe, and everything is okay.
We're are now at 35 weeks. It occurred to me today that what this means is that I'm two short weeks away from answering FAQ #1 with "any day now". Which leads me to FAQ #3: "are we ready?" Yikes. That's a loaded question. Fortunately, from what I can tell, there's only a few precious things needed to be prepared for an infant: a car seat (to get the kid home from the hospital), diapers (to catch the poop), warm things (to, uh, keep the baby warm), and working boobs (ie. food). The boobs are clearly working, we've got a serviceable carseat, we've got some clothing items, and they sell diapers in every corner store. So, uh, yes? I think we're ready?
But the question often is phrased with the words "baby's room" in it. On that front, no. Right now that room is a pile of baby gear of many many varieties. But that doesn't matter, right? The kid doesn't need a room to itself just yet (although it's stuff clearly does!).
Sometimes the question is phrased in a more pointed way, as in "are you ready for it to be over?" To that, in general, Yes. From what I can tell there are a couple of general camps that pregnant women fall into at this point in the pregnancy. One is that they are so gosh durn uncomfortable they just want it over. Another is that they're enjoying the pregnancy so much they don't want it to be over. Then there's the different types of worriers: the ones who want to keep the kiddo inside so they know all it's needs are taken care of; and the ones who want the kiddo out ASAP so they can see with their own eyes that everything is A-Okay.
Generally speaking, I'm pretty comfortable (except for that durn round ligament*) so in that respect I fall into the "doin' okay" camp. I also find it super cool all the things my body knows how to do to make a baby. And it's cool to feel that kid inside of me, just rolling around. As for the worrying - I'm firmly in the second camp: until I see the kid I will worry that something could happen at any moment. While there is only a remote chance of something going wrong at this point, that chance is still there. And it's very real for me as I miscarried my first pregnancy (which is sadly so common) and my mother lost her first child at 8 months.
The good news for the week is that everything looked great at our Dr's visit on Monday. She did an ultrasound to check the kids position (head down, facing to the back, ready to go!), we heard the heart beat, and she switched us from the leisurely monthly visit schedule to a weekly visit schedule. (!)
*For the uninitiated - the round ligaments apparently are the ligaments holding up my growing uterus. I find it interesting that these ligaments are rarely mentioned amongst the pregnancy woes, as I have found them to cause some of my worst pains of pregnancy. Basically, as I understand it, as the uterus grows these ligaments stretch. Yes. If you've ever sprained an ankle, you know that ligaments aren't so good at that. Calls to the advice nurse or mentions to the doctor come with knowing nods and reassurance that everything is normal. And no, there's not much that can be done. Except what my wonderful amazing Zach does, which is remind me to breathe, breathe, and everything is okay.
Labels:
pregnancy
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