We are on the home stretch (at least that's how I choose to look at it)! Only 7 more weeks to go and let me tell you, they can't go by fast enough. It has gotten to the point where there is no more room for Cash to grow or move without kicking a hole in my abdomen. He is truly moving from the time I wake up until after I am long asleep. Don't get me wrong, this is a good sign (at least for me it means I don't have to keep a "Kick Count Card" for the Dr.) But it is unbelievably distracting, uncomfortable, and...amazing.
It's distracting/uncomfortable when:
I'm sitting at my computer and he kicks me so hard I jerk in my seat.
I'm driving on the freeway and it feels like he is scratching on my uterus, literally clawing his way out.
I just went to the bathroom and he kicks me so hard I have to pee again.
I can't be comfortable in any position other than in bed on my side.
I eat a banana and can't breathe because my organs are squished up in my ribs.
I have to wear pants...seriously, screw the elastic waist band. I'm over it.
And it's truly amazing when:
He kicks as I'm talking to him. Almost as if he is responding.
Ryan or Jake can feel him moving around. (sometimes when I'm cuddling with Jake he says "Cashew kicked me in the leg!")
He kicks or moves to the radio, keeping perfect time with the song.
You can see him moving/kicking/synchronized swimming. (It's like that scene from Alien/Spaceballs where that guy is in the diner and his stomach is moving all crazy, then he flops on the bar, and that alien rips out of his stomach...but not like that at all.)
I first started to feel Cash moving back in January, he hasn't stopped since. I don't remember Jake moving around this much. But really nothing about this pregnancy is similar to Jake's.
Even though I am (more than) ready for Cash to GET OUT! I will be patient and let him bake until he is good and ready. Until then I may need to move a futon into my office so I can get some work done.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Monday, May 23, 2011
Moving AND Nesting. I'm exhausted.
I am two weeks into my 8 months, and getting more uncomfortable as the days pass. At this point in many pregnancies, women are nesting (aka cleaning, shopping, organizing, and various other things to prepare for the baby). I, on the other hand, am moving.
We sold our house two years ago and moved into an extra large rental complete with high ceilings and a large front room perfect for indoor badminton, basketball, and baseball. Very inconveniently we received a note from our landlord that informed us they would be moving back in at the end of our lease: June 30. May I add that my due date is July 19! I have an acquaintance that moved weeks before her child was born and only by the skin of her nose did she get everything ready in time. Knowing this I asked that we move out the month before.
It's really hard to prepare for a rental months in advance. I've discovered that when a home is ready, the owner would rather rent to someone wanting to move that week, not in a month. Needless to say I stressed myself out looking for a house 30 days before move out. All the homes I looked at were either in the wrong area, too small, too big, the landlord asked too personal questions (i.e savings account/checking account/credit card info), or it just didn't feel right. I finally found a house that was a good size, reasonable rent, in a good area, and had a pool! But I quickly talked myself out of it because the master bed was downstairs and the other 3 beds were upstairs. How was that going to work with a 3 year old and baby?! I figured I'd keep looking and put that house on the back burner. 3 (very stressful) weeks later and many searches on Craigslist I decided to go with the first house. So far, I couldn't be happier with my decision.
This was by far the easiest move we've ever had. And I'm not just saying that because I'm pregnant and unable to lift anything. We hired movers (best decision ever!) who allowed me to unpack and clean as we went. I'm happy say that we are completley moved in...that is, except for the baby's room. One step at a time.
We sold our house two years ago and moved into an extra large rental complete with high ceilings and a large front room perfect for indoor badminton, basketball, and baseball. Very inconveniently we received a note from our landlord that informed us they would be moving back in at the end of our lease: June 30. May I add that my due date is July 19! I have an acquaintance that moved weeks before her child was born and only by the skin of her nose did she get everything ready in time. Knowing this I asked that we move out the month before.
It's really hard to prepare for a rental months in advance. I've discovered that when a home is ready, the owner would rather rent to someone wanting to move that week, not in a month. Needless to say I stressed myself out looking for a house 30 days before move out. All the homes I looked at were either in the wrong area, too small, too big, the landlord asked too personal questions (i.e savings account/checking account/credit card info), or it just didn't feel right. I finally found a house that was a good size, reasonable rent, in a good area, and had a pool! But I quickly talked myself out of it because the master bed was downstairs and the other 3 beds were upstairs. How was that going to work with a 3 year old and baby?! I figured I'd keep looking and put that house on the back burner. 3 (very stressful) weeks later and many searches on Craigslist I decided to go with the first house. So far, I couldn't be happier with my decision.
This was by far the easiest move we've ever had. And I'm not just saying that because I'm pregnant and unable to lift anything. We hired movers (best decision ever!) who allowed me to unpack and clean as we went. I'm happy say that we are completley moved in...that is, except for the baby's room. One step at a time.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Looking back, Part 5 (the final chapter): Scheduling some offspring
I realize the irony in this blog title because most Mom's know that as much as you try to schedule your kids or your life after kids, s**t no longer happens the way you want anymore.
As you have probably gathered I ask my Mom for advice more often than not - or she gives it to me as I'm venting to her (this is more than fair because I vent to her on a weekly basis). And more often than not I take her advice - or kick myself for not taking it. Lucky for me she isn't an "I told you so kind of person" but that doesn't mean she doesn't like to bask in her rightness when I'm happy with the results of her advice. One (unsolicited) piece of advice that I remember her specifically telling me, at a young age, was that I needed to have at least one child before I turned 30. You see my parents had me at 27 then my brother arrived, 7 short years later. My Mom always said that she found herself more tired and worn out (especially with two kids) after her 30's. Since I had always planned to be bare foot and pregnant as a career, having a kid before 30 seemed reasonable to me. I also figured that if I had kids earlier I'd still be fairly young when they went to college, which would work out perfect because I'd still be young enough to keep up with grand kids PLUS I'd have money and time to travel! WINNING! Hopefully my future husband would agree with this plan...
After Ryan and I got married we decided to take a few years to hang out together, establish careers, and buy a house. After all we had been dating just over a year before getting hitched and we were fairly young at that point. I had also grown out of my "baby machine" phase. Two years later Ryan and I decided it was time to make a baby. I had read that when women go off the pill to start trying it could take anywhere from six months to a year before fertilization. Knowing this we ceased birth control December 2006. It took exactly six months (and a really crazy Cinco de Mayo party) before we got pregnant. Since it would be our first child we scanned the Chinese zodiac** to confirm our families compatibility. I knew that if we had a baby 2008, the year of the Rat, and one in 2010/2011 the whole family would be complete. We didn't mind what gender the baby would be since it was our first and as long as we could plan the second to be opposite then we would have hit the jackpot! (click here to see how that worked out for us.)
According to the "ancient Chinese gender chart" we would be having a boy! Baby Bean would be arriving February 2008. He was such an easy pregnancy, I honestly forgot that I was even pregnant half the time. I didn't have any weird cravings except the urge to eat hot fudge sundaes at every meal. If anything, I was sad that I couldn't eat my favorite foods: beer, sushi, and deli sandwiches. It was sort of ok with me because I had already placed my take out order with Ryan so that all three would be waiting for me as soon as I got home from the hospital. FYI future Mom's: I read that drinking beer helps release your milk supply if you are planning on breast feeding. Don't quote me on it but whatever helps, right?!
I think the hardest time I had with that pregnancy was picking a name. With this in mind I didn't have a name picked out but had narrowed down the list to: Jacob, Lucas, Benjamin, and Alexander. Some days I wonder what Jake would look like and if he would have a different personality if I picked Lucas....
For our second baby I had to plan more, especially if I wanted a girl. We wanted the kids to be closer in age but far enough apart so that they could have space from each other when they got to school. I was off the pill December 2009 but this time I had to be especially strategic if we wanted a girl. When you are 29/30 there are more boy months than girl months (of course!) so we tried really hard to get pregnant on the girl months. I even downloaded that stupid iphone application to tell me when I was fertile. It kind of takes the fun out of it but then again, this was business not recreation. We were getting to the end of the year and multiple pregnancy tests (and a crazy 30th birthday party) when finally, as luck would have it, we got pregnant!
It is so funny (and weird) to see your child as they grow up. Jake is such a mini version of both Ryan and myself that I'm really looking forward to what Baby Cash is going to look like and what kind of personality he's going to have. The more I think about it the more I'm looking forward to seeing my two boys grow up together. And after visiting with my midwife a few weeks ago, I'm more convinced that our family will be complete after Cash. But that could just be the hormones talking....
**It would probably help to know that I'm big on the Chinese Zodiac as well as the general Zodiac. When I was little and we'd go eat a Chinese food restaurant, one of my favorite things to do was figure out what everyone's sign was (with the help of that fun place mat.) I was born the year of the Monkey and I'm a Scorpio, two things that I believe explain me well. Ryan was born the year of the Dog and he's an Aries. Together we are a compatible match, I checked :)
*I should also let you know that I am not crazy, I just believe that if your signs explain who you are and who you are going to be then making sure your family matches well is reasonable. Of course you can't plan everything and just because you are all compatible doesn't mean you won't raise a serial killer...that's probably due to parenting as well. See so many things to think about when you have kids!
As you have probably gathered I ask my Mom for advice more often than not - or she gives it to me as I'm venting to her (this is more than fair because I vent to her on a weekly basis). And more often than not I take her advice - or kick myself for not taking it. Lucky for me she isn't an "I told you so kind of person" but that doesn't mean she doesn't like to bask in her rightness when I'm happy with the results of her advice. One (unsolicited) piece of advice that I remember her specifically telling me, at a young age, was that I needed to have at least one child before I turned 30. You see my parents had me at 27 then my brother arrived, 7 short years later. My Mom always said that she found herself more tired and worn out (especially with two kids) after her 30's. Since I had always planned to be bare foot and pregnant as a career, having a kid before 30 seemed reasonable to me. I also figured that if I had kids earlier I'd still be fairly young when they went to college, which would work out perfect because I'd still be young enough to keep up with grand kids PLUS I'd have money and time to travel! WINNING! Hopefully my future husband would agree with this plan...
After Ryan and I got married we decided to take a few years to hang out together, establish careers, and buy a house. After all we had been dating just over a year before getting hitched and we were fairly young at that point. I had also grown out of my "baby machine" phase. Two years later Ryan and I decided it was time to make a baby. I had read that when women go off the pill to start trying it could take anywhere from six months to a year before fertilization. Knowing this we ceased birth control December 2006. It took exactly six months (and a really crazy Cinco de Mayo party) before we got pregnant. Since it would be our first child we scanned the Chinese zodiac** to confirm our families compatibility. I knew that if we had a baby 2008, the year of the Rat, and one in 2010/2011 the whole family would be complete. We didn't mind what gender the baby would be since it was our first and as long as we could plan the second to be opposite then we would have hit the jackpot! (click here to see how that worked out for us.)
According to the "ancient Chinese gender chart" we would be having a boy! Baby Bean would be arriving February 2008. He was such an easy pregnancy, I honestly forgot that I was even pregnant half the time. I didn't have any weird cravings except the urge to eat hot fudge sundaes at every meal. If anything, I was sad that I couldn't eat my favorite foods: beer, sushi, and deli sandwiches. It was sort of ok with me because I had already placed my take out order with Ryan so that all three would be waiting for me as soon as I got home from the hospital. FYI future Mom's: I read that drinking beer helps release your milk supply if you are planning on breast feeding. Don't quote me on it but whatever helps, right?!
I think the hardest time I had with that pregnancy was picking a name. With this in mind I didn't have a name picked out but had narrowed down the list to: Jacob, Lucas, Benjamin, and Alexander. Some days I wonder what Jake would look like and if he would have a different personality if I picked Lucas....
 |
| Jacob Ryan born February 17, 2008. I just want to snuggle with him all the time! |
For our second baby I had to plan more, especially if I wanted a girl. We wanted the kids to be closer in age but far enough apart so that they could have space from each other when they got to school. I was off the pill December 2009 but this time I had to be especially strategic if we wanted a girl. When you are 29/30 there are more boy months than girl months (of course!) so we tried really hard to get pregnant on the girl months. I even downloaded that stupid iphone application to tell me when I was fertile. It kind of takes the fun out of it but then again, this was business not recreation. We were getting to the end of the year and multiple pregnancy tests (and a crazy 30th birthday party) when finally, as luck would have it, we got pregnant!
It is so funny (and weird) to see your child as they grow up. Jake is such a mini version of both Ryan and myself that I'm really looking forward to what Baby Cash is going to look like and what kind of personality he's going to have. The more I think about it the more I'm looking forward to seeing my two boys grow up together. And after visiting with my midwife a few weeks ago, I'm more convinced that our family will be complete after Cash. But that could just be the hormones talking....
**It would probably help to know that I'm big on the Chinese Zodiac as well as the general Zodiac. When I was little and we'd go eat a Chinese food restaurant, one of my favorite things to do was figure out what everyone's sign was (with the help of that fun place mat.) I was born the year of the Monkey and I'm a Scorpio, two things that I believe explain me well. Ryan was born the year of the Dog and he's an Aries. Together we are a compatible match, I checked :)
*I should also let you know that I am not crazy, I just believe that if your signs explain who you are and who you are going to be then making sure your family matches well is reasonable. Of course you can't plan everything and just because you are all compatible doesn't mean you won't raise a serial killer...that's probably due to parenting as well. See so many things to think about when you have kids!
Friday, May 6, 2011
New Mother's Day Tradition
The year I graduated High School was the same year my Aunt found out she had breast cancer. I remember the day of graduation was one of the first times she had gone out since her mastectomy. After months (years?) of chemo and radiation she went into remission. The cancer would eventually come back and metastasize in her hip, leg, and bones. Its been 13 years that she has been living with some sort of cancer, juggling doctors appointments and multiple medications. In that time she has never let it hold her back from going about her life. She has traveled to Maine, Scotland, England, and Florida. She has worked full-time over the years and has built a "Fan base" of clients that visit her often.
For years my cousin, my aunt, my mom, and I have been talking about participating in the Susan G. Komen Race for a Cure in Sacramento but we've never actually signed up until last year. We had so much fun that we decided to make it an annual Mother's Day tradition - complete with matching shirts!
So tomorrow I walk with my family for my aunt who is a cancer survivor. I know this journey hasn't been easy on her or the rest of my family but I am so grateful for the time we continue to have with her and the fun memories we create together.
For years my cousin, my aunt, my mom, and I have been talking about participating in the Susan G. Komen Race for a Cure in Sacramento but we've never actually signed up until last year. We had so much fun that we decided to make it an annual Mother's Day tradition - complete with matching shirts!
So tomorrow I walk with my family for my aunt who is a cancer survivor. I know this journey hasn't been easy on her or the rest of my family but I am so grateful for the time we continue to have with her and the fun memories we create together.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)