Hormones and a Passport Case

So this story actually happened back in December, but I thought I would share it now anyway as an example of how your mom went a little crazy with pregnancy hormones on probably more than one occasion.  This was just one of those occasions.

Your dad and I had finally scheduled all of our Babymoon trip to Mexico.  All the hotels were booked, the car rented, and the maps downloaded to our smartphones.  And we new exactly where our passports were.  So we were ready.

But then I got it in my head that I really wanted that passport case - you know, the ugly Eagle Creek "neck wallet" that you can hypothetically hide under your clothes to keep thieves from finding all your identification and cash.  We don't use ours that way - we mostly just have it as an easy place to keep the passports when they are not in immediate use.  We also used it as storage for the immunization records, and I was really sure I needed to have that to go to Mexico. I was sure my case was somewhere in the house and started looking for it in the obvious places - where the passports are kept, in the bag of travel/camping bags, in the outdoor gear bin, in the bedside table, etc.  Unfortunately, after putting everything we own into either a shipping container or the Subaru and driving across the country from Colorado, then unpacking into our temporary quarters (Hitchcock House), then re-packing and unpacking into Chapin Hall, things had gotten a bit jumbled. There were 83 plastic tubbies that had been moved back, forward, up, down, back again over and over as we tried to figure out how to move in. The passport case legitimately could have been in any one of those tubbies now, plus quite a few other nooks and crannies. I kept looking for it and kept not finding it.  It wasn't really a necessity for the trip, but I got it stuck in my head that we HAD to have it.  Your poor dad got home from work and I was frantically going through every drawer, box, bin, shelf in the house trying to find it and when I didn't find it, I would start over again.  I even went into the storage shed thinking I might find it there.  I was too pregnant to be digging through heavy boxes in the storage shed, but that wasn't going to keep me from finding precious.

So your dad basically talked me down and reminded me that we had all the important stuff taken care of and more importantly, we had our passports, so the passport case was not that important.  Thinking that took care of my anxiety, he proceeded to do something else.  I on the other hand, fumed for a little while, and tried really really hard not to cry, but eventually succumbed and went to your dad in tears saying, "I know it's not important, but I really, really need to have that passport case [crocodile tears were running down my face]. Will you please help me look?"  I also mentioned that I really couldn't control these emotions and I think he realized that I might just keep crying until that darned passport case was found.

The one place I did not look was in the car.  Why would it be in the car? Well, as it turned out, your dad remembered that we had our passports available in the car for when we drove from Michigan to Niagara Falls to Deerfield back in August.  Two border crossings.  The most logical place for us to have our passports (in the passport case) was in the glove box in the car.  So, sitting me down and telling me not to worry, he went out to the car and found the passport case.  My hero.  The crying ceased and I felt an immense sense of relief. I immediately made copies of my immunization record just in case it got misplaced again. Luckily your dad didn't spend too long looking for his passport case before he remembered, "Oh yeah, it got stolen in Slovenia!"

Then there was the time your dad came home to find me crying while I was cutting up some fruit.  But that's another story for another time...

A Little History

It seems that when I choose to blog, I really go for it.  It's been a month and a half since I last blogged and suddenly I have 3 posts in 2 days.  I need to learn to make these entries a little more regular...

Meanwhile, Junior, I wanted to share some more history of your parents with you.  I'm just going to copy and paste here some stuff we wrote for our wedding website (that no longer exists).  Specifically our short histories and how your dad proposed.  Enjoy!

Oh yeah, we got married on July 4, 2008 in front of the Bridger Mountains just outside of Bozeman, Montana.

Our Histories (from both perspectives)
These were written in early 2008, so some of the information is not current...

Shannon's Story Shannon Lea Savage was born in Aurora, Colorado in 1970. She is the youngest child of Gordon and Carol Savage. She has two siblings, Keith and Kathy (both of whom will be standing up for Shannon in the wedding). Her dad was in the airforce and serving in Vietnam when she was born. He didn't get to meet her until she was 6 months old. Shannon spent the first four years of her life in Germany, but unfortunately doesn't remember much of her time there. From there the Savage family moved to Dayton, Ohio for a couple of years, then to Killeen, Texas where her dad finished his 20-year stint with the armed forces. In 1979 the Savages moved back to Denver, Colorado. Shannon being the painfully shy child she was had a hard time going through so many different schools as she grew up. In Denver she was finally able to settle down and make some really good friends. Talk to Ruth Knepell and Dave Purcell to find out more about her shenanigans from elementary school on up through college. Back in 1976, Shannon became enamored of the idea of being an olympic gymnast (think Nadia Comeniche - first perfect 10). In 1979 she started gymnastics competition. She was also taking lots of dance classes and over the years performed in many dance recitals. Once she got to high school she left the gymnastics club to compete for her highschool team (Go Spartans!). Aside from doing fairly decent in academics (she was in the top 25 of her class of over 300 - but not nearly as geeky and active as Jeff was at that age), she continued focusing on gymnastics until she was 18. At that point she felt 12 years of torturing herself on the uneven bars, vault, balance beam, and tumbling floor were enough, so she hung up her leotards for good (so she thought). In 1987 Shannon read an article in National Geographic by David Meech and Jim Brandenburg about the Wolves of Ellesmere Island. Today she says that was a defining moment in her life. It was when she decided she wanted to be a wildlife photographer and figured getting a degree in Wildlife Biology would be her ticket to that career. So in the fall of 1989 her parents helped her move way up to Fort Collins, Colorado (an hour and a half drive away) so she could start her studies at Colorado State University (Go Rams!). Tracey Natvig (Keaton) can tell you lots of fun stories from these four years. At CSU she met lots of wonderful people and went to some amazing places for her studies. She learned to enjoy the outdoors by taking up hiking, camping, mountain biking, and rock climbing. She continued to take photographs but soon came to realize that a career in wildlife photography would be harder to attain than she had thought. It was in her final semester of undergraduate work that Shannon discoverd the wonderful world of GIS (geographic information systems). Although she had hoped to avoid computers and math for her career, she managed to find something she really liked that was nothing but computers and math. During the summer and winter breaks throughout college Shannon took on several different jobs. Her first "real" job was at Michael's Arts and Crafts as a salesperson. This job morphed into a framer in the frame shop where she got lots of deals on frames and mats, so she started giving her own photographs as gifts. But after her second summer in college when she spent a month in Pingree Park learning everything about natural resources (a required course for anyone in the Natural Resources department), she decided to try to get a job in her actual field. So for the summers of 1991 and 1992 she worked for the U.S. Forest Service in Del Norte, Colorado. She learned map and compass skills, plant identification, how to fight fires, and how to use a chainsaw to cut down all sorts of trees. After graduating in May of 1993 she had a summer job in Craig, Colorado for the Bureau of Land Management. She got to count prairie dog poop all summer long. But this was a job that was closer to wildlife management than the previous two summers. She came back in 1994 to do the same thing, but soon learned that her real passion was GIS work - she loved making maps! In the spring of 1994 she attempted one semester of graduate school at the University of New Hampshire. Here she was hoping to get more experience with using GIS tools for wildlife management. Unfortunately she was unable to secure a project and funding for the next semester so she did not return. Luckily, she had made some good contacts at UNH and after spending nearly a year working at Mervyn's and the Finest CDs and Tapes in Fort Collins, she found a bottom of the totem pole GIS job in Portland, Oregon and started in May 0f 1995. She worked for Pacific Meridian Resources in Portland for 3 years as a GIS specialist. The experience she gained there was invaluable. She also got to go to some interesting places while on the job, specifically Yosemite National Park and many different places in Oregon and California. Meanwhile, she took up gymnastics again and started competing in Masters meets. What a fun way to keep in shape - although broken toes are not that much fun. In 1998 she finished up her job at PMR and moved to... Yellowstone National Park for what was supposed to be a four-month job. Those four-months grew into 7 1/2 years. She was a GIS specialist for the park and had found her dream job. What she hadn't found was her dream man and Gardiner, Montana (north entrance to the park) didn't have a lot of potential partners to choose from (as the saying goes, "the odds are good, but the goods are odd.") She made a ton of really good friends there, though. There's bound to be lots of good stories from: Kendra Mitchell, Carrie Guiles, Pat Bigelow, Becky Seifert (Smith), Emily Moss, Heidi Anderson, Eric Miller, Troy Davis, Brian Ertel, Hali Kirby, Tyler Coleman, Christie Hendrix, Jessi Gerdes, and Trudy Patton. At some point Shannon thought it would be a good idea to go back to school. So from 2001 to 2005 while working full time, Shannon became a Master of Science in Land Resources and Environmental Sciences at Montana State University in Bozeman. On Memorial Day weekend of 2005, Shannon had an experience that literally changed her life. She was mountain biking with several friends and flipped her bike. Her helmet saved her life - she landed on her head - but she suffered some fractures in her neck. She spent several months in a neck brace and went through some physical therapy, but thank God, she wasn't paralyzed and has no residual issues with her neck now. This experience was a serious knock on her door and made her reconsider what she was doing with her life. And for some reason she once again thought it would be a good idea to go back to school. She had always wanted to be "Doctor Savage." So in January of 2006 she packed up, quit her dream job in Yellowstone, and moved to Bozeman to be a full time PhD student in Ecology and Environmental Sciences at MSU (Go Bobcats!) She has passed her qualifying exams and is now a "doctor in escrow" as her advisor put it. If all goes as planned, she will be finished in a year! So, there she was in Bozeman, minding her own business, when this incredible guy walked into her life. From L.A. of all places. He sort of knocked her off her feet. She's not sure it was love at first sight, but it didn't take long for her to fall in love with Jeff. And conveniently, he fell in love with her too.

Jeff's Story Jeffrey Thomas Jewett was born in Lansing, Michgan in 1978, youngest child to parents Tom and Jean Jewett, with sister Jennifer and brother Jim. Growing up he had teachers refer to him as "the social Jewett," because, well, you'll see. He attended Holt High School where he did all kinds of silly activities, including National Honor Society, marching band, quiz bowl, the school play, science olympiad (geez, what a geek!), track, cross country, and soccer. Jeff's first job: making slime at a science museum (I mean "Chemistry Demonstrator"). Also hawked hot dogs and beer for the Lansing Lugnuts Single-A baseball team. For Jeff's high school shenanigans, talk to Paul DeRose, Brendan Hill, or Aaron Jost. Jeff went to Northwestern University (Go 'Cats!) in Evanston, IL, where he majored in cell/molecular biology with a minor in history. He was also in N.U.M.B. (The Northwestern University Marching Band, of course!), playing baritone (sort of) and cymbals. If you want funny stories about college, talk to Scott Curcio, Neil Simon or Andris Bjornson...just don't tell his parents. While in college Jeff had the best job he'll likely ever have: teaching sailing on beautiful Walloon Lake for Camp Michigania. Sigh... After his junior year, he took a 7000+ mile road trip "out west," and was permenantly hooked (on both road trips and the West). Favorite places on that trip: Glacier National Park (Montana) and Zion National Park (Utah). Since then, Jeff's had odd jobs ranging from renting shoes and waiting tables to teaching environmental education and fighting forest fires, in Utah, New Hampshire, Maine, Washington, California, and Montana. He also met wonderful people along the way, like Hanna Soltow and Heather Rutherford, who would happily tell you how he learned not to shovel the snow off your car. Odd jobs and road trips are fun, but they don't pay rent (or car insurance) very well. Jeff got his first "real" job teaching high school biology at an elite all-girls school in Pasadena, California ("Go Tigers!"). That was "interesting" in so many ways. In the five years he taught there, he sent many kids to Ivy League schools, led field trips to the sewage station/landfill but also led class trips to Arctic Canada, Costa Rica, and the Galapagos Islands (among others), coached the track team to a league championship (couldn't quite pull it off with Cross Country), and tried to stir up general mayhem whenver possible. The senior class even voted to dedicate the yearbook to him one year ("Awwww..."). For silly Westridge stories, talk to Jamie Laurens, Tracey Tromp, Jen Leong, or Barbara Shannon. Pasadena was fun, but really, Jeff couldn't wait to move to Montana to meet the love of his life. :) In July of 2006, Jeff moved out of his apartment in Pasadena with only 3 keys left on his keychain (cue Slaid Cleaves song here): bike lock, Subaru, and U-haul trailer. Heading to Bozeman and grad school, he had never met his advisor and had only visited Bozeman once, for about an hour and a half. What was waiting for him there? Who knew? Mountains. :) Grad School. And unbeknownst to him, his future wife, Shannon Savage. Jeff's is working on getting a M.S. in Land Resources and Environmental Sciences, specializing in satellite remote sensing and geographic information system (G.I.S.). His graduate research is trying to map the change in distribution of whitebark pine over time across the Northern Rockies using Landsat imagery. Whitebark pine is a critical subalpine tree species, especially to grizzly bears, but it is rapidly dying off due to a host of reasons such as bark beetles, blister rust, fire suppression, and, yes of course, climate change. Besides doing the grad school thang, Jeff is now the "State Coordinator for the MontanaView project" (ask him about it sometime) and a new member of Bozeman's best improv comedy troup, Equinox Theater's Comedy Death Match! Whoo hoo! For unreliable tales of hijinx in Bozeman, ask Jenny Watts or Tyler Coleman. Things that Jeff likes to do: run (yay, marathon!), play ultimate frisbee, hug, rock climb, sail, hike, climb mountains, learn everything, teach, kiss Shannon, slide, look at maps, and generally cause trouble. Jeff and Shannon's friend Kali Abel said that she was trying to impersonate Jeff once, and it was pretty easy: she just "acted tall and smiled alot." One of Jeff's favorite Jack London quotes: " I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze that it should be stifled by dryrot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet. The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time." The Proposal (from both perspectives) From Shannon: Jeff proposed on December 13, 2007 and I took about a millisecond to say, "YES!" We were in San Francisco for the American Geophysical Union conference and had taken Thursday off to explore the city. We rented bikes and rode over the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito. After a late lunch there we headed to Tiburon as the sun was setting. We stopped at a lovely spot on the bay to enjoy the stunning sunset. Jeff gave me my Christmas present then, a book of poems by Walt Whitman. Then he proceeded to read me a poem from Song of the Open Road: Allons! the road is before us! It is safe - I have tried it - my own feet have tried it well - be not detain'd! Let the paper remain on the desk unwritten, and the book on the shelf unopen'd! Let the tools remain in the workshop! let the money remain unearn'd. Let the school stand! mind not the cry of the teacher! Let the preacher preach in his pulpit! let the lawyer plead in the court, and the judge expound the law. Camerado, I give you my hand! I give you my love more precious than money, I give you myself before preaching or law; Will you give me yourself? will you come travel with me? Shall we stick by each other as long as we live? I was crying by the time he finished reading. Then he set the book down and the next thing I knew there was a little white box in his hand and he asked me to marry him! From Jeff: I started working on her engagement ring about 5 or 6 weeks before I asked her to marry me, as I wanted some very particular things (recycled gold, conflict-free diamonds, Yogo sapphires from Montana). I had to special order her ring because of all of these requests. I tried various schemes to discover her ring size (including enlisting female friends to ask about her current rings and sneaking dental floss around her finger when she was sleeping in a failed attemp to measure her finger). Luckily rings can be resized, because I just had to guess. I decided that I wanted to propose in San Francisco, partly because we wouldn't be seeing each other for several weeks after that and partly because there are so many beautiful places there. I worked out a plan to ask her when we biked across the Golden Gate bridge.  Unfortunately, we got a late start that day and it was getting dark before we were going to be in Tiburon, where I had planned to ask her.  I pulled over my bike at the first nice view of the bay I could find (it was getting very dark). I made a big show of taking off my bike helmet to take some pictures. I just couldn't bring myself to propose while she was wearing her helmet, and luckily, she took the hint. Earlier in the day we'd stopped for lunch in Sausalito, where I snuck away to call her parents to ask for their blessing. That was really scary, because I knew that I would be fully committed at that point, once her parents were involved. After I proposed, we continued biking (in the dark) to Tiburon where we would catch the ferry back to San Fran. We walked around town while we waited for the ferry, and one of the only places open was (ironically) a jeweler. Inside that jeweler was really the first time Shannon got to see her ring under the light!

Did I Mention Heartburn?

Several times?

What about carpal tunnel syndrome?  No?  How can pregnancy cause carpal tunnel syndrome, you wonder?  Well, it goes back to that swelling thing - I had to remove my rings several months ago because my fingers were swelling so much.  And in the last month or so I've started waking up in the middle of the night with numb hands and in the morning with fingers that refuse to bend without causing me to shriek in pain.  So this is carpal tunnel syndrome.  I fervently hope I don't ever get this "for real" (the physicians say that this will go away after the birth).  So now I have these lovely little wrist braces that I go to bed with - your dad says I look like I'm going to punch him...

So, last night was a doozey!

I apparently ate all the things I should not eat that cause heartburn because I literally could not lay down flat until probably about 6am this morning.  Wow.  I've had a few bad nights of heartburn, but I'm pretty sure last night takes the cake, particularly since my hands also acted up from this carpal tunnel thing.  Didn't get much sleep.  I'm really grumpy today.  Your dad is going to love coming home to his grumpy wife this afternoon.

Anyway, there are all sorts of lists out there that say what foods to avoid to avoid heartburn.  Here's my list:

chocolate (sad)
tomato sauce of any kind (spaghetti sauce, salsa, enchilada sauce, etc.)
onions
peppers
garlic
ground pepper
anything spicy/hot
orange juice

Essentially many of my staples.  Last night I had some delicious chocolate (that your dad gave me for Valentine's Day) after my meal of pasta with spaghetti sauce.  I took a Pepcid AC shortly after the meal - but it failed me.  Then I drank some Maalox when I went to bed - but it failed me.  I sat up straight for several hours in the dark wishing the heartburn away - but that failed me too.  Today I feel like I've been worked over: really tired from lack of sleep and like my esophagus is permanently burned (it isn't, but I can whine can't I?).

Last night I also chose not to wear my wrist braces - I wasn't sure that they were doing any good and they're odd to sleep in.  Apparently they really do make a difference.  By the time I finally fell asleep I kept waking myself up when I moved my hands and this morning I could hardly use my hands until I gave them a short self-massage.  Which was difficult with sore, aching hands.

Again, this is probably nothing compared to some of the things pregnant ladies go through, but this fresh experience prompted me to write about how I'm really feeling at the moment.  Whiny, grumpy, and complainy.

On a side note, I also thought I would list for you what medications I've been taking during the pregnancy (who knows how important this might be in the future?).

For heartburn:
Pepcid AC (Famotidine 20mg)
Maalox (Aluminum hydroxide  200mg, Magnesium hydroxide 200mg, Simethicone 20mg)
TUMS (Calcium carbonate 500mg or 750mg per tablet)

For aches and pain:
Tylenol (Acetaminophen 500mg per tablet; also known as Paracetamol in Europe)

For hypothyroidism:
Levothyroxine, L-thyroxin various levels, currently 116mcg per day (this is the only medication that is actually prescribed by a physician - I discovered I am hypothyroid in 2002 and will have to take some level of this medication for the rest of my life.  You should know this is definitely hereditary - your grampy and his siblings and his mother all have it too.  Luckily your aunt Kathy and uncle Keith have avoided getting it)

For twitchy legs (restless leg syndrome):
Ionic-Fizz Magnesium Plus - a dietary supplement with 300mg magnesium (from carbonate) per 5.7g

For swelling feet and ankles (prescribed in Bulgaria before we got pregnant; I took these up through the third month of the pregnancy; this exists as a nutritional supplement in the U.S.A., but none of the doctors I've spoken with here have heard of it):
Detralex (Hesperidine 50mg, Diosmin 450mg per tablet)

For allergies (it seems that my body has an allergic reaction to being pregnant):
Benadryl (Diphenhydramine hydrochloride 25mg per tablet)
Zyrtec (Cetirizine hydrochloride  10mg)
Claratin (Loratadine 10mg)

I've really tried not to take any medications unless I am in dire need - I've certainly taken less pain reliever since being pregnant than I would have if I were not pregnant.  All of these (except the weird Bulgarian stuff) are approved for use by my Obstetrician(s).  And we asked the doctor in Bulgaria if that medication was OK if we got pregnant and he said yes.  So. There's the list.

I'm going to go listen to some good music and read a good book and get into a good mood...

Just Six More Weeks to Go - give or take?

Dear Junior,

Knowing that I tend to let things slip through my memory almost before they're even over, I decided I wanted to write a quick update on how this whole pregnancy thing is going.  We're at 33 weeks and 5 days into the pregnancy today.  Somehow it seems like the last almost 8 months has been forever - not in a bad way - just in an unexpected way.  I thought 9 months would go by so quickly, but I keep waking up and seeing this ginormous belly and realizing that it hasn't been nine months yet.  Your dad suggested that it's like waiting for Christmas or your birthday or summer break (if you're a student or teacher) - it just never seems to get here, and then suddenly it's gone.  I suppose once you're a little creature that both of us can carry (instead of just me), we will both look back and think these 9 months went by crazy fast.

I want to tell you a story about me and your dad.  I never was the type of girl who had googley-eyes over babies.  In fact, for a very long time, I was convinced that I would never have children - by choice.  Then I met your dad.  In fact, I can tell you exactly when I realized I was in love with him: we were having a discussion about having children (we weren't even dating yet; he knew I didn't want kids, and I knew he did - so we both kind of thought that we couldn't possibly have a future together) and your dad said (I think this might actually be a direct, word-for-word quote): "I think being a dad will be the most important job I ever do."  Yup, that exact moment was when my heart did a flip flop and I realized he was the guy for me.  Now I just had to win him over - but that's another story entirely, that I'll share with you some day.  But I still had this reluctance to have a child myself.  Once your dad and I started dating, that reluctance faded away and we both knew that some day we would try to have a child (or children).  And in fact now, only since being pregnant with you, I am googley-eyed over babies.  Your dad makes fun of me because apparently now I make the noises about babies that I used to only make when I saw a sweet kitty or dog nearby.  I clearly do not have a poker face whatsoever.  Because he even recognizes the "look" when I see a baby (or dog/puppy or cat/kitten) and I don't even make a sound.  This man who is your dad has completely changed my world view.  And I like it.

The day of your birth is fast approaching.  According to the standard western medicine way of guestimating birth dates, I should count 280 days since the start of my last period to come up with an estimated date of birth.  This is approximately 40 weeks (or 9 months or 10 months of 4-week-months) and your estimated date of birth is April 3, 2012 (or 4/3/12 - which is easy to remember because 4x3=12).  Most births that happen around 37 or 38 weeks are considered "term" - meaning that baby probably will not need any medical intervention or time in the NICU to be able to survive.  Most mothers who are more than 40 weeks pregnant want to get it over with as soon as possible, and I think physicians are quite willing to start inducing labor at 41 or 42 weeks.  I like to think that you will make it known when you are ready to come into this world and that you don't hold to that expected date of birth stuff.  So I am not holding on to the 3rd of April as a deadline, per se.  Your dad and I both just hope that you don't come any earlier than Saint Patrick's day because we probably won't be ready yet.  I guess I don't know when I'll actually be ready - I'm truly excited and can't wait to meet you, but I still feel like this is so surreal.  Also common in first-time parents, I understand.

Meanwhile, ever since entering the third trimester, I have been fairly grumpy.  I am not complaining - because compared to other pregnancies I've heard about, mine has been ridiculously easy - I just want you to know what I've experienced as a pregnant lady (in case this blog lasts long enough for when/if you decide to have children some day - luckily we can have the blog printed into a book, so if the internet becomes a thing of the past, at least we have a record of this journal).  I don't know if I talked much in the previous posts about how I've been feeling.  I did not have the standard morning sickness that you hear is a staple of being pregnant.  I did feel a bit out-of-sorts and only one time actually felt nausea, but I never vomited.  So when the first trimester ended, I thought I was out of the woods for pregnancy symptoms (I actually hate using the word, symptoms, in regard to pregnancy - it's not an illness and symptoms are by definition of an illness - so instead I will use the word, signs...).  But there are so many other signs of pregnancy that for some reason are not as well known until you join the ranks of pregnant ladies.  In no particular order (and I have not experienced all of these, just a few): swelling of any and all body parts, serious hormonal mood swings, excessive saliva, bloody noses, heartburn, hemorrhoids, constipation, diarrhea, uncontrollable and inexplicable weeping, sore hips, sore back, sore feet, growing feet, skin color changes, very strong urges to change hairstyles (but don't do it - especially if you are swelling!), varicose veins, itchy skin, severe fatigue, and on and on.

Thank goodness I've only suffered from a few of these things (well, actually, now that your dad points it out, I actually have been dealing with most of them to some degree), the worst of which has been the heartburn - apparently as you (my sweet little alien) grow, my uterus pushes against both my stomach and my diaphragm.  Because the diaphragm is being smooshed, I can't go up a flight of stairs without being completely winded by the time I get to the top.  Because my stomach is being smooshed, the acid that is in my stomach is getting pushed up my esophagus, causing mild to severe discomfort pretty much any time I eat.  I'm slowly learning to stop eating so much at one time (very hard because I have to admit that I'm a glutton and when there's good food it's really hard to stop eating even when I'm completely full).  For a while I was living on Tums but they just weren't enough, so I finally was given permission by my physician to use Pepcid AC and Maalox.  I'm trying not to take either regularly, but there are times when I just can't bear the feeling in my chest, so I have to give in and take some medicine.  The worst times are when it keeps me up at night.  I'm already getting up about 4 or 5 times in the night to pee, so I get really cranky when I lose even more sleep because of the heartburn.  Again, this is nothing compared to some of the pregnancy horror stories I've heard, so I should count myself lucky, and for the most part I do.  But sometimes I just feel grumpy - maybe due to the heartburn, maybe due to the lack of sleep, or maybe to do with my hormones going crazy.

We haven't taken many pictures of me since our vacation in Mexico.  Partly because we haven't done anything that seemed picture-worthy and partly because I'm being vain and don't want my picture taken when my face is so swollen that you can't see my eyes when I smile.  We did go to New York City a couple of weekends ago and I'm pretty sure your dad got some pictures of me, and even if my face is swollen, I guess I better put up some pictures to keep a proper log of the pregnancy...  But I haven't taken any pictures since I got the haircut (I was speaking from experience when I said above that you should not change your hairstyle - I decided that after more than a decade without bangs it was time to have them again.  And I was wrong.  So it might be a while before I willingly have a picture taken of my face.  Yup, vain).   Anyway, here are some photos from NYC:

Is your dad trying to say something about me with this picture?
At the  American Museum of Natural History (3 Feb 2012)

Mom and Dad at the American Museum of Natural History (3 Feb 2012)

Mom on the Brooklyn Bridge (5 Feb 2012)

Mom and Dad on the Brooklyn Bridge with Manhattan in the background.
(5 Feb 2012)

Meanwhile, you're down there kicking away.  At first it was just little flutters (sadly I did not mark down on a calender when I first felt you - I'm not very good about keeping track of milestones like that.  I guess I better get good at it since there will be so many milestones for you and I want to remember them - for you and for me!), then what were more like kicks and punches, and now I can look down and watch you doing your calisthenics in my belly.  Makes me think of the first Alien movie (which I'm sure you will never see because by the time you're old enough to appreciate it, it will be ancient cinema that probably won't interest you - maybe I should try to find a youtube video of the scene I keep thinking about... nope - no such luck, after watching the scene, I really don't feel like that - but what a fantastic movie, but I digress).  I think you mostly do your exercises when I'm still and quiet - particularly when I lay down to go to bed.  At first the feeling of you kicking (or punching or just moving around in general) kind of freaked me out, but I've come to really enjoy the movement now.  I also like that your dad can feel you moving.  It's fun to giggle together when we both feel you doing some karate move down there.  Also, feeling you move makes you all the more real to me, helping to make this experience a little less surreal.

Next Sunday the wonderful people of our community are throwing us a baby shower.  I wasn't expecting to have a shower because we just moved here and none of our close friends and family are anywhere nearby, but apparently it is Deerfield tradition to have a shower for any faculty/staff that are having children.  Another tradition that is really neat is that Deerfield has this plaque that's been around since the 1950's or 1960's that is like a family tree in that any couple who has their first child while working at Deerfield will have their child's name engraved in the plaque and will get to keep that plaque until the next first-born is born (or if the couple leaves the school, I guess).  So we will be a part of Deerfield Academy history.  Pretty cool.  We don't know of any other expecting couples at the school right now, so who knows how long we'll get to keep the plaque.

One last thing for this post.  We were taking a childbirth class called "The Bradley Method" or "husband-coached childbirth" up until this week.  It was supposed to be a 12-week course, but we made it through only 5 weeks.  It's kind of too bad, because I think the philosophy behind the class was good, but...  I will let your dad write about that experience because he was more affected (read: stressed) by the class (instructor) than I was - although his stress definitely affected me, thus we decided that we need to try something different.  So we might try a hypnobirthing/deep relaxation class that starts next week, or a different natural childbirth class that starts in two weeks.

That's it for now.

Love,
Mom