Salvation through technology: On being one's own advocate

I am neurotic to a fault. I like having control and hate waiting. Being frustrated with these weeks of waiting and lack of diagnostics during our initial prenatal visit, Glenn and I purchased the Sonoline B fetal doppler at around 8 weeks.

It's a handy little doppler that comes with gel and is basically a $50.00 plastic piece of mind. I have been trying fruitlessly since 8 weeks 2 days to get a heart beat. (Doctors tell you it's difficult to hear the heartbeat before 12 weeks)

I can find my own heart beat, and would hear the "woosh woosh" of my placenta/cord(?) but couldn't get the actual baby's heartbeat. Upon research I knew it should sound faster than mine (anything 125 and under is mom), and should sound like a train or galloping horses . I would start right above pubic line and move left to right (weeks this early in the first trimester the baby sits very low behind your pubic bone). Well after a week and a half of trying, I finally got the lil bugger!

There is indeed a baby Lovelace growing in there! Words cannot express how happy this makes me, and the feeling of reassurance that all these symptoms and feelings I have are not for naught.  I had to go wake Glenn up to have him listen....he was delirious but excited! So high on baby love right now! 




Without further ado: Baby Lovelace at 9 weeks 4 (well, 5 at midnight) days:

Health and Exercise (or lack there of)

As I am wont to do - I will continue to relinquish any self-abashment. I figure I have shared this blog with enough people who know me and love me to not care how much I really put myself on front street. That being said, I feel like a huge bloated whale. While I know pregnancy is the most rewarding gift a woman can ever experience, I'll be damned if it isn't a shot to the esteem to not fully be "showing" and have this constant bloating feeling.


Pre-pregnancy I used to go to the (bourgeois, fancy, rich white people) gym fairly frequently (okay 3 times a week if I was lucky) or run outside to stay fit. I especially loved the high impact weight lifting and cycling classes. As soon as I found out I was pregnant I fell into the fear-induced rut that somehow working out (other than walking or swimming slow) would somehow increase my odds of miscarriage or somehow hinder the healthy growth of baby Lovelace. 


Well, I've just about had it with feeling like a cesspool of sleepiness and pudge. Why am I not "glowing" yet? (Nice) people in the know have been telling me I look great, but it's hard to step on the scale everyday and wonder if these 4 lbs of weight gain are healthy pounds full of nourishment for the baby, or if mama has just been enjoying those vanilla muffins and skim milk too much. THE BABY CRAVED IT OKAY. 


My darling nurse practitioner wasn't providing any revolutionary guidelines on what I should or should not be doing exercise wise, and since I won't know til week 12 the stability of my cervix (thanks HPV!) I have been taking it relatively easy. I have gone running approximately twice, and done the elliptical twice in....NINE WEEKS AND 4 DAYS. No wonder I feel like a blimp. 


Today I did the elliptical for 35 minutes set to cross-training, and then did some weight training - arms. I must say it felt amazing to sweat, and for once I didn't have headaches. I am looking to purchase a probably turbo-expensive heartrate monitor to keep below that (140-160 beats per minute) dreaded fetus stressing number. 


I still got it!

9 weeks 4 days in the ladies restroom at Lifetime Fitness - whatofit?

Pumpkin-Love

This week draws us to 9...ever so close but seemingly so far to our "safety zone" and that first ultrasound. We are now 2 days out and I'm still impatient but hopeful. New symptoms are on and off headaches (more on than off as of late) and some shortness of breath. Not like, an exercise out of breath sort of scenario, but I find when I am doing trainings I have to pause more often instead of having run on sentences explaining how to move slides on a webinar. 


My patience is still wore thin to none. Some days are such a frustrating blur, I can't wait to get home to crash on the couch. Other days I do get some reprieve to do some babyboarding (not at all like waterboarding) but more of a forum of crazy moms-to-be, as well as utilizing Pinterest to keep track of some nursery room inspiration. It's a pretty fun site where you "pin" (duh) images/links to relevant interests. The other fun aspect is that you can friend people who can also pin to your board if they think it suits your fancy. Join and pin me!


This weekend we got to share the news with some more friends, by way of a pumpkin carving contest.

Ours is 3rd from the right -- A Jerome dog Yorkie!

I have for the past few years, been blessed with the friendship of several wonderful gay men, and letting them know about the ol pumpkin I'm harvesting (harharhar) has been precious. I think the range of emotions has gone from being teary-eyed, to shocked, to super curious about women bits, to excited. I know one thing is for sure, this child will have no shortage of fantastic uncles. (Or Aunts as Chris would favor)

Uncle Peetz, Auntie Chris, Uncle Bee Why - pondering their niece or nephew

Pizza gets the prize for most emotional reaction

October always brings fall festive cheer, pumpkins, and support for breast cancer awareness -- by way of Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. I have served on the Race Executive Board for the past 3 years as the Information Chair and it has been awesome being involved in a volunteer capacity for the biggest foot race in Maryland. I am however, hanging up my pink gear and probably stepping down, as we will have a 5 monthish old and I figure I will have my hands (and boobs) full. 


Race committee folks like myself have to show up at 4:30AM, and it was a long, cold and tiring day but I was glad to enjoy some sunshine and cheer on the survivors. Behold: your Komenesque exhausted post-race requisite belly shots:

4 hours of sleep and some facepaint later...

grow, baby gourd, grow!