NEWS

So we had our ultrasound this morning.

They took a bunch of measurements. One head, two legs, two feet, two arms, two hands, two kidneys, one heart with four beating little chambers.

Did you know that they use warmed jelly on your belly for this kind of thing? I didn't. It was rather nice, like warm water.

And they also have this very cool recliner chair that you sit in and The Husband told me that one of those would cost a bazillion dollars--I know because I suggested that one of those at my desk might make work more enjoyable right now.

Anyway I ended up a half hour late for our doctor's appointment. So I checked in and found out that my blood pressure was high but could be worse and also that I LOST A POUND!! I have no idea where I lost it, but I'm sure it's here some where...maybe behind the sour cream in the fridge...

So because I was so late I ended up waiting FORTY-FIVE MINUTES to get in to see my doctor and then I met this weird 4th year Med Student named ANDY and he talked to me for a while and listened to the baby's heartbeat which is good and strong and he found it right away which is great because I was just looking at it so I KNOW it's in there.

Then Dr. Alice came in and we chatted and ordered up some blood work and she cut her hair which is very cute, and then I headed off to the lab for the blood work.

Filled up that vile in no time flat! Packed up, found a bathroom and headed for work again. And now I'm back. At work. At my desk.

But I'm not really thinking about work. I'm thinking about my son.

YEP! WE'RE HAVING A BOY!!!

Blueberry Bagels

So, the flavor of the week is blueberry bagels with cream cheese. In case you haven't noticed, due to the sparse posts lately, I haven't got much to say. Work is particularly heinous right now, my blood-pressure is sky high and being pregnant is uncomfortable and only likely to become increasingly uncomfortable.

The one comedic highlight so far has been that The Husband and I have both started reading to The Child. He reads the Tales of Uncle Remus in Gullah, I read a collection of Scottish folk tales--complete with Scottish accent. Our poor child is going to be so confused.

So rather than listen to further whining from me--which I'm quite sure that no one really wants to hear--I propose a friendly wager. The Husband and I are going to the doctor on Thursday and prior to the actual doctoring we will have our 2nd ultrasound, which will (theoretically) determine the sex of The Child. Who wants to place their guess? Please do so in the comments section. But please make an educated choice...here are your pertinent factors:

1) The Husband is the youngest of 4, with 2 older brothers--since his swimmers are the deciding factor, I thought you should be informed genetically.
2) I have a twin brother (but also 2 older sisters).
3) I never really had morning sickness.
4) I certainly craved action movies and nasty canned nacho cheese sauce (that has to indicate a male occupant, right?)
5) I had terrible acne when first pregnant, but it has since subsided.
6) I still shave my legs every other day.
7) EVERYONE around me is saying that we're having a girl--EXCEPT my sister and her kids.
8) The Husband thinks it's a girl--but it's partly because he wants a little girl with "Little Orphan Annie" hair.
9) I think it might be a boy--but what do I know I've never been pregnant before!

OK. Everyone, make your declaration in the comments--I will certainly be blogging the results on Thursday afternoon and will praise those of you with infallible instincts for this sort of thing.

Also, hopefully, by then I will have something interesting to say!

16 Weeks and counting

So. If this is what I look like at 16 weeks... everyone should take cover because the belly will take over the world! I know. It doesn't seem that big. But it FEELS enormous. We don't have proper furniture, we have a futon in the living room and Bed Sweet Bed, but the futon is a futon, it kind of slops down towards the back so when I sit on it, I have to wriggle my way out of it. I know. It's graceful.

So this weekend. We didn't go to Baltimore as we had planned. Much to my disappointment. The Husband was sick and there was snow in the forecast so we opted to be safe responsible adults and stay home. Which we did. I read Harry Potter all weekend long. The Husband played computer and did homework. It was mildly depressing but rather restful. I caught his cold.

And now I'm back to work and he's back to school. Here's your entertainment for the morning, are you ready? We have an ultrasound scheduled for 1 week from Thursday. Theoretically we should be able to determine the gender. I want to know. Please do not talk to me about surprises. I need to PLAN.

Anyway. So I had this dream Sunday night...and frankly, dreams are just very VERY vivid being pregnant. Anyway, in my dream we were at the ultrasound and they were looking at the Child and all of a sudden the Child looks right at the camera and says, "Mom. Get me a crib!" And then the doctor went back to blah blah blah inches long, everything normal.

Naturally, I woke in a state of panic.

We went back to Babies R Us and made the final selection for the crib and mattress. The Husband has promised to placate my subconscious by purchasing selected items this week and setting them up before The Birth. I am ok with this. Apparently, so is the Child as there were no more weird dreams. The Child isn't even here yet and it's already bossing me around...we're doomed.

Baby Tamarins

Just be forewarned. This post isn't really going anywhere.

I love this picture! Partly because The Child is approximately the same size as these monkeys and one can only hope that the Child is not quite as hairy but just as cute.

Tomorrow we're going to Baltimore to visit these people. I can't begin to tell you all how excited I am. If I had the energy I would totally be bouncing in my seat right now.

We were supposed to get snow this week. Supposed to. It didn't happen. We did get RAIN! And school kids got to sleep in and slack for RAIN! It cracks me up when they delay school the night before we're supposed to get icy weather. We're also supposed to get snow again tomorrow. HA! I'll believe it when I see it.

In the meantime, all I want to do right now is lay on the couch and read Harry Potter. Is this some sort of pregnancy symptom that nobody warned me about? Seriously. We have all kinds of great movies in our house and I have no interest in watching them. Poor Husband has been waiting so patiently for me to watch movies with him and all I want to do is read Harry Potter. I've also progressed from my DIRE craving for pineapple to an unquenchable craving for nachos with black beans and white corn and this salsa from Target that must have lime juice in it because it's just so perky!

Just thought you'd all want to know. I know how thrilling it is to keep up with crazy pregnant lady's cravings, so I'm really here to serve the public's voracious appetite for information. What can I say? We here at Burnstopia aim to please.

Let me think...is there any real, serious, interesting news?

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Hmmm. Apparently, not so much. I suppose I shall now inquire, what are your plans for this weekend?

Better Now

So the tummy thing...I think I have an answer! See. I'm a 3 meals a day kind of girl. Not really a snacker (except at my Sister's house because, dude, her house is the Nirvana of snack food), not a grazer, just a do what I have to do and every 4-5 hours eat something healthy. Well, mostly healthy. The Wife Pregnant version 1.o, she requires feeding and rebooting every 3 hours at least or the Tummy it is Distressed. So I find that I EAT all day long. It's annoying. And time consuming. But these are the hits that I take for The Child.

In the meantime, everyone should save themselves from The Belly. It is threatening to take over the world. I went from a pooch to a full on Muffin top! And those books? They LIE. Those nicely rounded little bellies that they show on the profiles? Yeah. That's not me. Well, unless you skip forward to about month 6! It's only mildly disappointing as I was really hoping to be a cute pregnant girl--like so many of my dear friends. Instead I look disgruntled. Disgruntled with a Costco sized Muffin top.

Alas, this is the post that went no where. For your momentary pleasure though, here is one moment of cuteness on our behalf. The Husband has started reading the collected Tales of Uncle Remus to the Child. Apparently, he grew up on Uncle Remus and he does the dialect and everything. It's hilarious to see him reading these tales and making the faces of the characters...to my belly. Alas, there is much in Uncle Remus that I cannot understand...so mostly I just lay there and try not to laugh. The Husband? He is adorable...I sincerely hope the Child gets its cute genes from him!

Interruption

We will return to your regularly scheduled and entertaining programming in a bit, but for the moment I need to whine.

I went 15 weeks with no Quease, no Sick, no anything pregnancy related. I was FINE! I SAILED! I was tired but I'm a seasoned insomniac, I can totally handle tired.

Friday my stomach got all wonky on me. 1 part heartburn to 2 parts nausea with a side seasoning of pain. It has remained so ALL weekend. I don't think I'd mind so much except--I AM WEEK 15, I AM NOT SUPPOSED TO BE SICK NOW!!! In fact, if my Mayo clinic book has not lied to me I am supposed to be feeling BETTER not WORSE.

So I'm nursing ice water with lemon in the hopes that the tumminess will settle. And as I write this it is a bit better than it has been...it's just puzzling. Why now? Maybe it's not pregnancy related, maybe I have a bug, where would I have gotten a bug? I didn't go anywhere this weekend? So maybe it's pregnancy after all, but I'm 15 weeks?!? Baby is supposed to be HAPPY now.

Alas. It is also Monday. Maybe it's just how I've internalized my loathing of my job of late. So, readers, distract me please. What did you do this weekend?

We bought our first piece of baby furniture--baby has nicer furniture than we do but it was on sale and a very decent price so we took the plunge. Changing table/dresser--check!

The Day after Yesterday

Hi there.

Yesterday was my birthday.

I was thinking about how cool birthdays were when I was a kid. And, granted I'm a twin so it meant sharing everything, but still! Birthdays were awesome.

My mom is the 9th of 12 kids so her mom never made much out of birthdays so when my mom had kids, she made birthdays a BIG deal. We got breakfast in bed and special treats in our lunches and presents--they were generally practical, usually clothes, but still presents! She let us choose what we wanted for dinner and she would make us whatever we wanted, complete with CAKE. Very possibly the BEST part of our birthdays was the big homemade chocolate marble cake my mom would make. (She made me one this year too!)

Back in the day birthdays were a bigger deal than now, I suppose, because we were always hitting milestones. As adults, one year bleeds into the next with nothing to denote the passage of time...there's no sharp growth spurt, no increased skill or ability, nothing...just a number that says how long I've lived on this earth.

The Child isn't even here yet and already its birthday is a bigger deal to me than my own.

The Husband does what he can to make the birthday nice, but they just aren't a big deal to him. So, yesterday I worked, I went to the DMV, I went home, I ate nachos, I did the dishes and I went to bed. The Husband? He started back to classes, made chicken enchiladas for this family that we know who are having twins in a month and then did some homework, then came to bed.

We are party animals, no?

I'm not complaining. Really. I like being an adult. Well, except for going to the DMV. I like the freedom to choose what I'm going to do and when and how. I like my own space. There is the tiniest part of me that misses those days when birthdays weren't just nice, they were grand. I miss being the star of my family. Even if it was only once a year.

Oh dear, we are in trouble...

Hi. So, um, I got all excited with the end of the year crap that I sort of neglected the blog.

Sorry about that.

We went to Savannah for New Years--it's tradition, we go every year. But this year was a whole new breed of suckitude. Everyone was sick when we got there and therefore foul beyond description. The Husband's friends failed to hook up with us and us with them for a variety of reasons, but it all ended with he and I in our pajamas at 9pm on New Year's Eve watching a marathon of No Reservations on the Travel Channel.

Needless to say, The Husband was not amused.

We left early Monday morning, both of us foul and him getting sick. Not to be outdone, I got sick the next day.

And I have been sick ever since. Sick to the point of not being able to get out of bed. Sick to the point of not being able to talk...it was ugly. Lucky for me, the Husband still loves me. We went to the doctor last Friday for the Child and I inquired as to the current depressed state of my immune system and the midwife said, "Well, honey. You're immune system is kind of otherwise occupied." This situation had never occurred to me. Everything else in my body is multitasking, why not my immune system? Apparently, it takes all it's goodness and insulates the child and leaves the rest of me to rot. Lovely, no?

So, I'm still here. Coughing up a lung and blowing my brains loose...and cannot expect any change for 6 more months! Woo-hoo!

Also, everyone at work is back now and hard at work which means that piles are beginning to accumulate on my desk again. I'm thinking seriously of putting up this sign:


I know. It's incredibly poor taste and also probably a bad translation but it really makes me laugh.

So, here's what I've got for New Year's Resolutions for you:

1) Be more diligent about working out.
I know. Everyone uses this one, but I am actually serious.

2) Revise some old papers and submit them for publication.
I'll keep you posted on further developments.

3) Survive childbirth. And also be able to love my Child at the end of this...
Seriously, people.

4) Be a better wife.
The Husband deserves it.

5) Have more fun.
I am a worker. At work, at home, at church...it's what I do. It's become another form of hiding. The problem is that the Husband and I end up like roommates rather than husband and wife...so really resolution 5 works well with resolution 4.

Your turn now. I promise not to hold it against you. What are your resolutions for this year...and they don't have to be big or cliched...just goals you have for this year.