Holy Crap, I am Super Pregnant!

So you might ask, how does one know that they are “super” pregnant?  Well let me share with you some of my “symptoms”.

–Gone are solid, full-nights of sleep. I toss and turn frequently and am surrounded by a fortress of pillows.  This picture is proof!

–I have to roll myself out of bed. No lie.

–If I drop something I stop and think “Do I really need that?”  I usually respond “No” in my head and leave it.  Bending is the enemy and virtually impossible.

–I can go 3+ days without doing a # 2.  And when I do finally “go” I am confident that my experience in the bathroom is preparing me for delivery.

–Someone should certify me as a hazard zone! I pass gas that can quite possibly kill someone.

–I regularly throw up in my mouth. Thank you acid reflux and heartburn.

–I can only fully shave my left leg. For some reason I can’t successfully position my right leg to get each side of it.

–I have not seen my vagina in weeks.  I have no idea how it is holding up.

–My nipples are tanner than I have ever been in my whole entire life.

–My breathing replicates an over-weight, two-pack a day smoker.  Seriously, it is a bit disconcerting.  Forget walking up-and-down my town home’s awesome staircases – I gasp for air in-between sentences when sitting still in a chair.

–I waddle, tremendously.  Shoot, I waddled before I was pregnant!  I am no longer a waddling duck – I am a waddling penguin!

–I am a hormonal time-bomb waiting to go off at any wrong look, gesture, or comment that might infuriate me.  I cannot control the internal rage I have encountered, even though I know I shouldn’t feel or react a certain way. To explain it best – some days I feel possessed!

Please share in the comment section what signs or symptoms you’ve displayed that you too are/were super pregnant!

Learning Infant CPR

We attended the Infant CPR course at Inova Fair Oaks Hospital on Monday night.  The course was approximately two hours long and taught us how to administer CPR and what steps and actions you should take if your infant is choking.  The class was hands-on and allowed practice on “dummy” babies.  I feel much more confident now knowing the basics of how to potentially save my child’s life if ever put in either scenario.

Here is a picture of my husband practicing on the baby.

Questions to Ask When Picking a Pediatrician

Something I didn’t know but learned from other mom’s is that you need to have a pediatrician picked out prior to your delivery. The on-call pediatrician at the hospital will examine your baby shortly after you give birth, but in Virginia, your personal practitioner comes to the hospital for a thorough check within 24 hours of your daughter or sons birth. You then visit this doctor within two days of being released and will continue to visit that practice for your well check-ups and routine first-time-mom worries.

My husband and I have gone on two pediatric visits and haven’t liked either enough to “sign up” with them. I never truly thought that this would be a complex process, however when deciding who I will interact most when concerned, worried, or simply in need for some first-time advice, I realized picking a pediatrician (who is also getting paid thousands and thousands of dollars from my insurance company each year) is quite a difficult task.

I wanted to share with my readers the questions and/or observations I have asked and/or documented during my visits that have been quite helpful!

When you call to schedule your visit/interview ask the following:

1. Will this visit include other couples or is it a one-on-one conversation with the physician?

2. Is there a fee for this visit (one practice I went to did charge us!)?

3. Do you take my insurance (if they don’t, pass)?

4. Are you affiliated with my labor and delivery hospital (If not, I would suggest picking a different practice as this means one of your doctors probably won’t be given rights to come to your hospital after the birth)?

Questions when interviewing a pediatrician:

1. How many doctors are in the practice? Do we get to pick a primary physician or are we assigned one?

2. How long have you been practicing/how long has the practice been in existence?

3. Do any of the doctors have sub-specialties (asthma, allergies)?

4. What are your hours? Do you offer evening or weekend hours (this is critical, you never know when your baby will be sick)?

5. Do you offer same-day sick appointments (again, critical! You don’t want to wait 24 hours to see a doctor if you have a vomiting baby)? How far in advance do well appointments need to be scheduled?

6. What are you views on breast feeding/bottle feeding? How do you help or encourage mothers with breast feeding?

7.  Do you have a lactation consultant on staff?…if no lactation consultant, how do you deal with breast feeding problems?…how do you respond to breast fed babies who have slow weight gain? This is a critical question if you plan to breast feed. You want to work with a practice that will support your desires and not force you to switch to formula immediately if the baby is gaining weight at a rapid pace. You’d be surprised at the answers, tone, or beating around the bus answers I have received. You can easily identify those who do support breast feeding moms.

8. Do you respond to questions by e-mail?

9. Do you accept calls for routine and non-emergency questions? If I leave a message, how long does it usually take you to return the call?… Is there an extra charge for advice calls during the day? Advice calls after hours? (I almost fell over when one practice told me they would charge me if I called to ask a question!!!!)

10. What is your schedule for well baby checkups? How often do you see the baby in the first year?

11. Do you support an alternate/reduced vaccination schedule (spacing out vaccines…half dosages…waving normal procedures such as eye ointment, Hep B shot)? This is a key question for me. I won’t “sign-up” with a practice that won’t allow us to execute an alternate vaccination schedule. Telling me “you will do it, but don’t support it” isn’t an okay answer.

12. Will you be available to discuss behavioral developments with me during visits (teething, potty training, bad behavior etc)?

13. Do you have any children? I never though to ask this but other mom’s say that it makes a difference in their approach and understanding with first-time mom’s.

Also ask yourself:

1. Was the office clean?

2. Was the waiting room kid-friendly, with toys and books?

3. Was there a well and sick waiting area?

4. Was the office staff helpful? Were the nurses friendly?

5. How long did you have to wait to be seen? How long were patients waiting to be seen?

6. Was the interview rushed? Did the doctor seem open to questions?

7. First impression of the doctor?

8. Did the communication feel natural? Was the doctor easy to understand?

Glucose Test Results & More…

So this is a follow-up from my 29 week check-in.  I mentioned I took the Glucose test and the doctor ordered an additional sonogram because my “growth measurement” was well, growing a bit too quickly!

Here’s the results…….

I passed the glucose test! Woot woot!

I failed the anemic test! Boo.  But this is no surprise as I was anemic at some point during high school, and “…80% of pregnant woman” test positive for anemia”.  Check my source! All this means is I have to take iron supplements…which I purchased but have not taken yet.  Why, you may ask?  Hold your laughter.  Iron supplements have known side effects such as “nausea, vomiting, constipation, diarrhea, dark colored stools, and/or abdominal distress” (source check here).  Yes, I bolded constipation.  I am barely going # 2 now.  And on days that I do first off, it feels like I am giving birth.  Secondly, I celebrate.  Now I need to take a supplement that will make this worse?  I have done everything right for my baby thus far, but I hesitate with this one because I can’t stand the thought of being even more “stomped-up”.

I also went for the additional sonogram.  I really wasn’t nervous or anxious leading up to the appointment (which is so unlike me) but once there I felt a sense of “what if something is wrong with the baby?”  As the technician took photos of her little brain, and stomach, and intestines I worried and panicked a bit the whole time.  I prayed and made a few extra promises to God if everything turned out okay with my little Poppy.  And luckily we only received good news.  We were told the baby’s growth is on target and my fluids are fine.  Nothing is wrong.  I am short and petite and measuring big because my placenta has no room to grow except for going up.

This Baby is a Result of…

One of my go-to websites while pregnant is www.thebump.com.  My favorite feature of this site is the community message boards that allow you to post questions or simply read the questions, comments or recommendations of others online.  I’ve posted questions on the message boards such as “What foods should I avoid now that I am pregnant?” or “Recommend your OBGYN”. This online resource provides responses from people in your community and people who are also going through the same thing as you at the same time.

So I wanted to share a funny, entertaining, insightful post from yesterday that read…

“This baby is a result of…”

Below are individual responses that I cut & paste to share with you all!

–Me being out of birth control pills and my husband and I getting it on before work one morning. Before he walked out the door he said, “You better not get pregnant.”

–Careful planning

–Our honeymoon. We had just gotten married and had been using protection before we got married. Our wedding night was the first time we didn’t. I never thought it would happen so soon!

–Long Island Iced Teas and red wine on a trip to my cousin’s wedding!

–Us both sneaking home on lunch one Friday for a little afternoon delight!

–Months and months of charting and supplements to help me ovulate.

–Gonal-F injections, follie monitoring, a trigger shot of Ovidrel, timed intercourse that had to be planned around a family funeral, Lovenox injections, Endometrin suppositories and) many thousands of dollars.

–Mexican margaritas and beer… found out I passed the last section of my CPA exams and we wound up celebrating a little too much!

–Lots of Mama Juana and Dirty Bananas at a pool bar in the Dominican Republic.

–A Dave Matthews Band concert! If it’s a boy – Ethan Matthew will be his name!

If you want to read what our baby is a result of, click here!

This is My Fortress…

Well no, not really. This is my BED and I am sharing with you the contraption I build each night before I roll into it.  I am at the mercy of these pillows as they have recently saved my mood and ability to exist as a normal human being — they allow me sleep (sometimes).  Each pillow and its positioning serves a serious purpose! Don’t be fooled – I am guessing many other pregnant mama’s have similar looking type “build up’s” of pillows.

Where to Register: Babies R’ Us vs. Buy Buy Baby

Besides having to decide what to register for we also had to decide at what store(s) to register.  Having a geographically dispersed family on both sides didn’t help as my favorite baby store, Buy Buy Baby, owned by Bed Bath & Beyond, isn’t a nation wide store.  And although Babies R’ Us is easy to find, my distaste for their customer service, return policy, product display and limited availability of items made me hesitant to “sign up” with them.

So I decided to register at both stores and this is why…

Pro’s:

–When you register they give you a personal shopper that walks you through each section of the store (strollers, car seats, bathing, bedding etc) and explains the benefits and negatives of different brands and types of products.  The personal shopper makes sure to include “experts” in each section that can answer specific questions – they have an answer for everything and very honestly don’t recommend the most expensive items!

–They have every item you could want for your baby and if it is not in stock they will order it and ship it to their local store free of charge.  When we stopped in prior to actually registering we mentioned wanting a specific stroller that was not in stock yet – they called me weeks later just to inform me they were available for purchase!

–The store is arranged just like Bed Bath & Beyond where each section is logically organized and housed with items from the ceiling to the floor.  Display models are intact, clean, with no broken or dirty parts.

–They have a lax return policy…just keep the box and have the item on your registry!

–Their customer service is exceptional and welcoming.  You never feel like a burden and most of their representatives are parents who share what worked for them!

–They accept Bed Bath & Beyond’s non-expired 20% off coupons!

Con’s:

–They only opened in 1996 and are slowly growing with locations only in 13 states.

–Some people complain that their prices are higher than other baby stores.

Pro’s:

–You can find one no matter what state or city you live in!

–There is one across the street from where we live, so although not my favorite I can easily see weekly trips occurring based simply off convenience.

–They sell most brands of products and regularly have sales.  If you sign up for their specials they will mail you monthly coupons for usually $5 off.

Con’s:

–Most employees are young, not parents, and know the basic information about the product unable to provide depth to comparing items.  Most 16 year old’s their can’t tell you why one nipple cream is better over another.

–They sale “part of products”.  For example, they sell the “Arm’s Reach Mini Co-Sleeper” but don’t sell the sheet that fits the product!  They also sold a car seat we were interested in but didn’t have available in-store or online the adapter we needed to match!

The Fun & Frustration of Registering

I remember the excitement of registering for my bridal shower.  My husband and I easily took a hold of the plastic, “magic” store-gun and without much premeditation went through Bed Bath & Beyond scanning items that were practical along with items we weren’t even sure we needed!  There was no pressure, just fun in deciding a simple and quick “yes” or “no” to each towel, curtain and cup and plate.

Registering for our baby was a bit of a different experience. Prior to even setting foot into a baby store I spent hours reading and highlighting information in Baby Bargains.  I also printed out and reviewed Buy Buy Baby’s online registry checklist as well as put posts up on thebump.com asking other expectant mom’s what items were must-haves to survive the first few months of motherhood.  I felt obligated to not only know the type of items to register for, but to also know the best, safest and most economical brands.

So here is a list of my Top 10 Baby Registry Items for First-Time Mom’s:

1. The Baby Jogger City-Mini Stroller (Why: It’s lightweight and I can easily lift it by myself, but the biggest plus is the folding/opening system of this stroller.  We were sold with one demonstration.)

2. Chicco Keyfit 30 Infant Cars Seat (Why: It consistently appears on the Consumer Reports Top Ten List and in 2010 was ranked # 1.  Baby Bargains also rated it an “A” purchase.)

3. Arm’s Reach Mini Classic Co-Sleeper Bassinet (Why: Bassinets are a thing of the past!  Co-sleepers line-up to your mattress allowing easy bonding, middle of the night changes, and easier access for breastfeeding all without ever having to get out of bed!)

4. Fisher-Price Zen Cradle Swing (Why: We wanted a swing that plugged in so we didn’t have to be dependent upon batteries.  We also loved that this swing matched our living room décor and that the seat snaps out and is a mobile seat.)

5.Summer Infant Best View Hand held Color Video Monitor (Why: For peace of mind!  Also, it allows us to check on the baby without having to get up every time she whimpers).

6. Swaddle and sleep sacks (Why: They’re perfect for newborns because they snuggly hug the baby and are perfect for night time wrapping since babies cannot have blankets, pillows etc in their crib.  Brands that receive positive reviews are: Halo, Aden and Anais, Swaddle Me and Summer Infant).

7. The Boppy Pillow (Why: Every mother says this is a must-have!  These pillows are perfect for simply holding the baby without having to hold the baby and also for breast feeding positioning.)

8. Dr. Brown’s Wide Neck Bottles (Why: The wide neck and nipple allows for an easy transition from nipple to bottles.  I also read that Avent bottles are a good pick as well).

9. Diapers (Why: I don’t think an explanation is needed!)

10. Diaper Dekor Plus Diaper Disposal Pail (Why: Although the Baby Genie II is the most popular brand sold, we liked the Dekor because it has two layers of smell prevention, it takes normal sized kitchen garbage bags, and has a unique bagging system that allows you to “cut” only the portion of the bag you want to dispose of).

It’s Official!

For Valentine’s Day I gifted my husband with a golf lesson, a one hour massage, and a name change!  Yes, I finally did it after it 3 ½ years of marriage – we are now officially a Mr. & Mrs. with the same last name!

Here is an excerpt from the card I wrote my husband accompanying the copy of my temporary paper license:

“I have tried over the years to show you by words, love letters, actions, and some nice gifts how much I love you, think of you, know you, and want to make you happy.  And although appreciated, I know it is the smaller actions that touch your heart deeper than all the materialistic things I have ever purchased.  And so this Valentine’s Day I wanted to give you something that was virtually free and only required time, coordination, and a little bit of sacrifice on my end… as this holiday approached and I thought about how I could give back to you a piece of the love and generosity you have given to me this is the only gift that felt right.”

29 Weeks…Another OBGYN Visit

Last week we had our first second week visit!  Check out my latest stats…

Pee: Good! No protein!  I finally found out what they are looking for in that tiny cup each time!

Weight gain over 2 weeks: Although I try to be incredibly honest on this blog, I cannot share with you how much I gained in a matter of two weeks.  Let’s put it this way – the nurse weighed me twice because she thought the scale was wrong and then I made her weigh me a third time just to be sure.  This is the first time I became scared of the weight gain – not for myself but for my baby (more on this under the “concern” section).

Blood Pressure: Good!

Heartbeat: 150! Perfect!  Anything over 120 is considered safe.

Growth Measurement: First, in case you don’t know what this means click here for my previous explanation.  I was 29 weeks at this check-up and I measured…34 centimeters.  As a result, a precautionary sonogram was ordered to determine why my uterus measurement is ahead of schedule.

Special Procedures: It was time to take the glucose test that checks for gestational diabetes! Forty-five minutes prior to my appointment I had to drink a “fruit flavored” drink that tasted like sugar-water.  You have five minutes to literally chug this stuff.  I highly recommend picking the fruit juice flavor – it was not bad at all and I have heard A LOT of complaints about the orange and Coca Cola flavors from other moms.  I will share that just after finishing the drink I did feel quite nauseous which is a common side effect.  The nurse draws your blood once at the doctor’s and then you wait for the results…

Concerns: My weight!  Normally I am embarrassed of my weight gain. Last week I embraced my weight gain; but this weight I became seriously concerned that the rapid increase could be a symptom of something bad such as preeclampsia.  The nurse calmed my fears and told me that I had no other symptoms associated with preeclampsia such as protein in my pee, high blood pressure, swelling or abdominal pain.  My husband acted as a witness telling her that yes, I like my ice cream every night but the fast food and junk food indulges from first trimester had virtually ceased and that most meals ate are at home!  The nurse responded that some people simply gain a lot of weight when pregnant whether they exercise or not; whether they are tall, short, skinny etc.  My main concern is that I am not injuring or hurting my baby and as long as I am told that she is okay I can deal with being plump for now and will work diligently to get back in shape eventually!