Return of the Ickiness

Well, the ickiness of early pregnancy has decided to make a comeback for this last trimester. :: sigh :: Now I get sick after dinner.... in fact, I'm beginning to think there is really no point to even eating dinner anymore.

I don't share this information to gross anyone out... it's mostly for my own benefit -- so when I read this journal a year or two so from now when I might be entertaining the idea of getting pregnant again, I remember what THIS one was really like. Everyone tells me you block out all the bad stuff.

So, note to self: You miss your real clothes, you can't sleep very well, you can't see your feet, and eating has become just plain annoying ... and there are still 12 weeks to go.

MORE Nursery Pics ...

a little bit at a time...
Here are the new pics.

Holiday Summary...

For those of you who missed my regular blogging over the holiday vacation, here's a quick summary: ;)

Christmas Eve - I finally got to wear the one dressy maternity outfit I've bought so far. And the hem I put in the pants myself stayed in ALL night. I was quite proud. We spent the evening talking politics with Tom's grandparents, or rather, I talked to Tom's brother Marc about weddings while the rest of them talked about politics. Again, I'm pretty sure English royalty came up at some point, it always manages to. I should start taking bets on Graff conversation topics. Tom's vegetable platter, though its beginning was a little shaky, was a hit... mostly with Marc. All I know is we didn't come home with any vegetables, which I was a little sad about. I like vegetables, especially when they are so conveniently cut up like that. Oh well. At some ungodly hour (no pun intended), we headed off to church.

Church was actually very nice, even if it was a small crowd. I've always enjoyed the Christmas Eve service at Tom's parents' church. As non-traditional a church fan as I am, I do like all the pretty candles and hymns for Christmas. Their current priest is really great too ... long service, but I left with a happy Christmas feeling. We got home around 11:45 or so and I crashed... in my new pajamas with clouds on them.

Christmas Morning: As has been tradition thusfar, we went to Tom's parents' house to open presents around 8:00. This is funny because they make us all go up to the top of the stairs like we're just emerging from our rooms to find Christmas has arrived! I always feel like I'm ruining this picture because exactly whose bed am I coming from at their house and from upstairs? (Tom's bedroom was always in the basement anyway). So we opened presents for awhile, got a bunch of cool stuff. This was apparently the year for DVD's, because between the six of us, there were at least 10 of them exchanged. Oh and, in keeping with what has turned into a running joke about our baby's name, Ben received a gift from "Santa" labeled To: TBG. :: sigh :: Someday they will use his name... someday. Right now, they just can't... it's okay... I understand. Kudos to Tom's brother Taylor though, who gave Ben (yes it was labeled To: Ben) a stuffed Pluto. We ate a yummy breakfast and then Tom and I headed out for some well-deserved rest and relaxation before dinner.

Christmas Night: We went to my parents' house for dinner. Dinner was delicious and there were no exploding meat thermometers this time. (don't ask.) More gifts were exchanged ... Ben got some gifts with his name on them. We played a Karaoke Playstation game, which I thought was quite cool... Tom and my brother thought otherwise and preferred watching my brother's new Southpark DVD's. At some point, I think I became delirious because all I remember is trying to play Trivial Pursuit Pop Culture DVD in the basement and then starting to cry, apparently from sheer exhaustion. After that I got to go to bed. Bed was nice. :)

The last of the holiday festivities was my friend Mandy's holiday party yesterday. Tom didn't go with me because he was on his Christmas golf outing. I told him he is coming with me no matter what next time because Mandy is starting to develop a complex about him not attending her parties. Anyway, the party was lovely, lots of yummy food. (mm! mm!) And I got to see Meg (the other preg due around the same time as me... Hi Meg! ;) I was pleased to see that her tummy just about matches mine. Last time I saw her, I was huge and she was still a stick. HAHA! We talked babies while Mandy's sister and Val, another friend from highschool, talked upcoming weddings. We're all so busy these days!

So that's it. The short version of our last pre-baby holiday. :) I am SO glad it's over. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz............

New Nursery Pics Are Up!

Ben's nursery is still a work in progress... but you can see what's new here.

Stupid Hormones...

This article actually made me CRY.

Constant Kicking and Other Things...

Benjamin has been SUPER active for the last three days. And I haven't even had any caffeine in weeks! At times, it feels like he's laying sideways because I feel kicks/punches on both sides of my tummy. Last night, I was poking around ("tapping on the glass") and I felt something really, really hard. I made Tom feel it too. We decided it was either a butt or a head and since it might be his head, Tom determined that we'd better stop poking at it.

Only 13 more weeks until we get to meet him! (maybe even one or two weeks less than that if I'm lucky.) I'm a little wary about packing that emergency hospital bag just yet because that makes it all a little too real. I should though... women on my March 2005 Expecting message board have been having their babies left and right! It's still way too early for Ben to come though. I saw a 27-week baby born on the Discovery channel last night and it was REALLY small and skinny. Ben needs time to fatten up.

I, on the other hand, am ready to STOP fattening up. I'm up about 26 pounds now. I know it will go away quickly after the baby's born (I HOPE)... but it's really unnerving to see the scale go that much higher than it has EVER been. I'm hoping that all this healthy pregnancy eating will pay off in the weight department after March. I guess we'll see.

One last rambling thought... I was looking at Ben's christening outfit last night and it's 0 - 6 months... so it's SMALL. I was hoping to do the christening in early fall, but I think he will have grown out of it by then. So now I'm thinking July or August. Hopefully that gives everyone enough time to recover from the baby shower, Josh and Jen's wedding shower the birth, and Josh and Jen's wedding in May... since a lot of the same people are involved in all of those events. :\ Ugh. So much going on these days!

Hiccups...

Ben had his first (documented) case of the hiccups this morning... It was so regular that Suzanne, who sits next to me at work, was able to come over and actually see my tummy move a few times. Funny baby. ;)

What End is Up?

Ben has about three weeks to pick a position and stick with it. (by 30 weeks things are so crowded in there, it's hard to move around anymore)

As of 20 weeks, he was feet first. Then I started feeling kicking up high, near my ribcage... and I still do a few times a day. But I'm pretty sure he's still on the move because an equal number of times a day, he's kicking down near my bladder. We've already established that he's a rather active kiddo ... just hoping he settles on head-down very soon. :\ Otherwise, his birthday might be a little more planned out than I had intended.

Finished the Nursery... Almost...

This has turned into the neverending home project. Yesterday, I touched up the paint, put new handles on the closet doors, washed the blinds and the windows, hung the pictures, put up the valances, added a new lamp and installed a dimmer. So the nursery is ALMOST finished. We still need to get the mattress and touch up the ceiling where we got wall paint on it. THEN I think we'll be finished... FINALLY. I will take pictures as soon as I figure out where I put my camera. Argh. It's turning out very cute, but I still think it needs more color somehow... working on that one...

Celebration! :)

I called my doctor's office today to see if the results of my Glucose test were in. She said they were and everything is fine! Hooray! No three-hour starvation marathon for me!! Thank goodness because I really think it would have made me very, very sick. Plus, they make you load up on carbs the few days before you take the test and that's the LAST thing I need right now is to put on 2-3 more pounds in two days. So yay... that's my happy news for today. :)

Quiz...

I found this Parental Readiness Quiz. Apparently I am ready to be a parent. Hooray. Because it's kinda too late. I scored lowest in emotional maturity though. What's THAT all about?

Anyway, here's another quiz some of my readers might be interested in. The Marital Readiness Quiz

I didn't want to take that one because it's even MORE too late to find out that I'm not ready to be married. ;)

Swapping a Paycheck for a Baby

I was figuring yesterday that I have about 7 paychecks left in my career. While this is a good thing because it means I'm ever closer to not having to drag myself into the corporate world day after day, it's also a little disconcerting.

Not that we won't have enough money after I stop working. We've planned for this for years ... we're careful, and we don't live beyond our means by any stretch. So Tom's salary covers all of our bills and then some, and mine gets saved, for the most part. Plus he gets his raise and bonus in July, three months after the baby comes, so that helps.

But still, the idea of not having mm own money is just WEIRD. I have worked full-time pretty much since I was 16. And since I always had my own money, I never felt bad spending it now and then. After March, I'm spending "our" money. It will be an adjustment.

I absolutely know I've made the right decision, but it's hard not to think about the fact that we'll be giving up about 20% of our income. Compared to Tom, I make diddly squat, but it's still a nice chunk to be able to put into savings.

Ah well. I guess it's something everyone who makes this decision struggles with. It's kind of an issue of personal independence.

But... the trade-off is certainly worth it.

99 Days to Go!

Only 99 days to go before my due date!

Today's Adventure...

Today I went for my Glucose Tolerance Test. For anyone who doesn’t know, this is a blood test to see if you have developed gestational diabetes. (If for some reason you absolutely, positively must know more about what it is, just google "gestational diabetes.") Otherwise, just read on...

Anyway, it’s not as easy as just a blood test though. No no no.

First they make you starve yourself. Now first of all, not letting a pregnant woman eat is just mean.

Then, they make you drink this syrupy sweet carbonated orange soda that tastes like Sunkist with about twenty scoops of sugar tossed in for good measure.

THEN, they make you sit for an hour (still without eating) while the magic syrup does its work, which is to shooting your blood sugar sky high. (Ben really enjoyed this part... it sent him into a writhing frenzy of feet and fists)

Then, they take some blood and a few days later they let you know if your blood sugar STAYED high (bad) or if it came crashing down (good).

I can tell you right now, I’m a crasher. I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck. And if I follow my usual pattern with not eating/lots of sugar, I’ll develop a raging headache in about three or four hours. Can’t wait.

All this would not have been SO awful if it had only taken an hour like it was supposed to. But I went to Labcorp. Their motto may as well be "Sit down and shut up. We’ll take your blood when we’re good and ready."

So I entered an already crowded waiting room at 8a.m. and found myself stuck behind a very very old woman who was apparently there to give a stool sample. According to my watch, she entered the one and only bathroom there to produce said stool sample at approximately 8:15 a.m. At 9:15 she still wasn’t out. I guess she had performance anxiety. Meanwhile, the Labcorp people aren’t bright enough to decide to just take me ahead of her. Hello? Hungry pregnant woman with an hour’s wait ahead of her?? A little consideration would be nice. But I guess they couldn’t handle this little change to their routine so there I sat. Me and all the other people who were getting blood drawn for god-knows-what communicable disease they might be carrying.

At approximately 9:30, they finally made poopy woman come out of the bathroom. She had to come back later when she was more prepared.

Finally, at 10:30, after I had chugged 10 ounces of the icky orange soda, and sat in a sugar –induced coma for an hour, a very rude woman stabbed me, took my blood and sent me on my way.

If, by some strange twist of fate, I failed this one-hour test, I have to go back for what one of my recently pregnant co-workers dubbed the "three-hour tour." All the same routine only they make you sit there, starving and high on sugar for THREE hours. What other pregnancy torture is in store for me? Stay tuned…

Doctor's Appointment...

I had yet another fun-filled doctor's appointment today.

Everytime I go, I say to the girl who takes my blood pressure: "It's going to be high, it always is when I'm here." Everytime she takes it, it's high. So today she takes it, surprise, it's high. I get into the examining room and the doctor comes in and says "You're blood pressure's a little high." I told her I know this, that we've had this discussion before and that this "high" blood pressure is limited to when I am in the presence of medical personnel. She laughed and asked me if the nurse weighed me BEFORE she took the blood pressure. When I said yes she said, "Oh I have GOT to tell them stop doing that. It just stresses everyone out." That was amusing.

Tomorrow I have to go have the screening for gestational diabetes. I have been dreading this since I got pregnant. They make you drink this super sugary orange stuff and then wait to see what your blood sugar will do. If it goes up and stays up, you've got gestational diabetes. I KNOW what mine will do... it's going to immediately plummet. This means I'll get spend the rest of the day with a raging headache. Ugh.

Oh, she also listened to the baby's heartrate on a different machine. This one spit out a little piece of paper with a black squiggle on it that she claims is the baby's heartbeat. It looks more like a doctor's signature to me.

Aaaaaannd.... I think that's all. My next appointment is in January and after that I have to go every two weeks! Wahoo!

Finished Painting!

Today, since it was yucky outside, I decided to suck it up and paint the nursery. It was as awful as I had been dreading. The walls were already sort of a dark sage color, so painting over them with a neutral, whitish color took many, many coats. Three, to be exact. Tom helped me by trimming out under the ceiling and taping off the room. I think there's still some touching up to do, but I won't be able to tell until I see the room in daylight. Ugh. Every muscle in my body hurts.

On another topic, I fear my innie belly button is truly not long for this world. When I cough or sneeze now, it sort of pops out so it's flat. I know it's just a matter of time until it pops all the way out and stays out. Yucky.

Doctor's appointment tomorrow! I love going every month because I get a chance to check in and make sure everything's going okay. But I really dread being weighed. Ah well. Only three more months of this to go!

Bloggity Difficulties

Sorry my blog hasn't been working for about a day and a half. Something is up with the site that hosts my comments. So comments are temporarily unavailable... but feel free to leave a note under the tagboard on the right. :) Seriously. My blog has been very lonely lately.

Not much new is going on with the baby, so here's a pregnancy update on mommy. I have gained 24 pounds. Sounds like a lot, but I'm on track to gain between 35 and 40 total, which is about right for the average pregnancy. The morning sickness has stayed away, which I am eternally thankful for. My only real complaints these days are the yucky acid reflux and a general lack of energy in the evenings. Otherwise, this pregnancy thing really is pretty easy. We'll see if I'm still saying that in another two months or so, but so far, it's just not that bad!

I've noticed from watching the various birth shows on the Discovery channel that there seem to be three types women during labor....

1) The au-naturel women who choose to go it with no pain meds. They usually look pretty miserable the entire time. This is not for me.

2) The women who get the epidural but it either doesn't work or it wears off. They usually look pretty miserable during the pushing stage. This is also not for me.

3) The women for whom the epidural works miracles and they laugh and talk through the entire labor. There is obvious effort during the pushing, but no look of real pain or anguish... these people even joke around between pushes. THIS is where I want to be.

I have a doctor's appointment on Monday and I'm going to ask her what I have to do to be laboring woman #3.

Also, regarding the issue of who will be in the delivery room. Tom, definitely. My mom, definitely. I apologize a hundred times over to my mother-in-law as well as anyone else who wanted to see the bloodbath that is birth, but I'm just too shy for that. Plus, in the very likely event that I am in pain, I really really don't want a ton of people around. I promise all who are interested that you can come in and out freely before the pushing begins... and as soon as they put me back together into some sort of modest state, you can come right in and hold the baby, take pictures, etc... but during the ickiness, it's an exclusive crowd. Tom, because he did this to me and after all, Benjamin IS half his. ;) And my mom because she's my mommy.

Ben's Eyes Are Open!

According to all the baby stuff I've read, babies open their eyes at week 25. Before that, they are sealed shut while their retinas develop and all those other good things. Anyway, today marks the beginning of week 25! :) So ... yay Ben! Although, I'm guessing my insides aren't the most exciting thing to stare at all day. Hrm.

A Look Inside at 24 Weeks

Came across this in my travels. It's a 24-week fetus... about the same age as Benjamin is right now.

Busy busy busy...

I bought paint for the baby's room yesterday during my lunch hour. I was too tired to start painting last night though. :( Maybe tonight... but probably not. I'm just too tired after work to do much of anything except eat dinner, clean up the kitchen and go to bed. I'm very VERY ready to be done with work. Lately, it seems to just be getting in the way of things I could be and need to be doing.

Somewhere between 14 and 15 weeks left to go in this adventure. Doesn't sound like a lot, does it? In some ways I wish it the time would hurry up and go by... but in other ways I am not so impatient. We still have a lot to do to get ready and I'm not really excited about the unavoidable, impending pain. Ugh.

Some New Pictures...

One is of Tom and me breaking the wishbone on Thanksgiving Day. (23 weeks pregnant)

The other is of the picture we put on our Christmas cards this year. The message was "Fetus Navidad" ;)

There's a Person in There!

Everytime I see my tummy move, I can't help thinking (or saying outloud), "That's so weird... there's a whole PERSON in there!" This is something I KNOW for a fact, but can't seem to comprehend. I was talking to my friend Joy on the phone the other night and she said something that I know is true for me too. She said that up until the point that her daughter actually came out and she got to see her for the first time, she still couldn't picture what she would look like, or even that she would look like a real baby. It's all just too weird.

But enough rambling. ;) I guess the only news today is that we put our Christmas tree up last night. I owe my blog several pictures, including one of me and my big tummy standing in front of the pretty tree. I'll get to it soon, I promise. It's a matter of getting my digital camera, my laptop, an FTP program and a reliable internet connection all in the same place. Ugh.

Benjamin's First Snow

Well.. sort of. But I swear he knew something exciting was happening this morning because he NEVER moves around in the morning and he was all over the place.

We mailed out our Chrismas cards today. If you don't get one, I apologize. I only ordered 30, due to budget constraints. But I'll scan the card in later and post it on here for everyone to see. As you might imagine, it's baby-related.

I'm stuck at work right now, even though there is snow everywhere. I'm hoping this is only a temporary situation because I'd really like to dig out the Christmas decorations today. We'll see... more later.

The Baby as Entertainment...

I read somewhere a couple of days ago that when babies in the womb hear familiar voices, like their mother and father, their heartrate goes up. As a childhood fan of Mr. Wizard, I couldn't let the opportunity for a little home scientific experiment pass me by! Tom and pulled out our fetal doppler (which I'm getting ready to send back, since the baby is moving now) and we both started talking to Ben. Well, the results are inconclusive. His heartrate did go up... but then again, usually when I watch it on the doppler, it goes up and down about 20 beats a minute. I think it's mostly due to movement. Ah well, it was fun. ;) Our little alien is a constant source of amusement to his mommy and daddy.

Christmas is a Pain in the Butt

In baby news: the baby is moving a little less these days... I guess he's starting to get a little crowded in there. I gained 5 pounds last night. But judging from the number of trips I've made to the bathroom today, it will probably be gone tomorrow.

Now, I must vent about something unrelated...

There is a feud going on in my office about the company Christmas party. Now, I for one, could NOT care less if we have or do not have a party. Period. It's not going to make or break my holiday. In fact, I was all for doing secret santas during December and calling it a day. But whatever. The way I see it, there are two contingents of people here:

a) The Socialites/I'll Do Anything to Get Drunk for Free - Two separate groups, but both after the same thing... a fancy shin-dig, off-site, outside of office hours where there will food and drink late into the evening.

b) The Quiet Types/I'd Rather Not Go Out After Work - I will admit, I'm part of this group. I'm not that social anyway, and lately, I only have so much energy to last through the day. I'd rather not have to drag myself and Tom out into the cold after work to socialize with people I see 50 hours a week, 52 weeks a year. My followers include the people with young children, the quiet types, and the holiday stress-cases. We're hoping for a nice, low-key lunch or something in the office.

Whatever. At this point. It has snowballed into SO much negativity that we probably shouldn't do anything at all. Which, again let me reiterate, is MORE than fine with me. I didn't ask for anything. I don't want anything. I don't expect my bosses to feed me or give me gifts. Just my paycheck and Christmas day off would be lovely, thank you.

So now I'm frustrated and annoyed with people I would normally call friends, or at the very least, people I am friendly and social with during the workday. And of course, because I am pregnant and hormone-overloaded, the whole thing just makes me want to cry.

The people who are "in charge" are complaining that those of us who are anti-their-ideas are just ungrateful morale killers. Who asked them to be in charge anyway? Obviously they are not doing it out of the goodness of their hearts or it wouldn't have gotten this ugly this quickly. I would have been happy to help... so would about a dozen other people.

Yet another case in point for why (other than visiting family and friends and going to church) Christmas should be wiped out. It's nothing but a pain.

Today I Learned...

Funny how we all just mindlessly do certain things without knowing why.... I thought this was interesting. And let it also be noted, that it seems I am actually following the middle name tradition the way it was originally done. ;)

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A History of Middle Names

Few Americans were giving their children middle names in the 17th century until the German immigrants introduced this naming custom to America. They were in the habit of giving their children two given names at baptism. The first given name was a spiritual name, often a favorite saint's name, and the second one, which would later be known as the middle name, was the secular name. The secular name, or "call name" was the name by which the child was known and the name used in legal records. It was not uncommon for the spiritual name to be the same for all the children of the same sex within the family.

While the Germans would bring this custom to America, it was not until the early 19th century that the custom caught on with others. By the 1840s, it had grown into a popular practice. According to a study of college records, in 1840 about 92 percent of the students at Princeton had middle names. This custom would continue to grow and by World War I it was assumed that everyone in America had a middle name.

Missing Food. :(

Yesterday, I packed myself a lovely little lunch. It consisted of a yogurt, a grapefruit, a turkey wrap and some M&M's. I ended up going out to lunch with a coworker yesterday, so I was really looking forward to my packed lunch today.

I just went to the refrigerator to take something out of it and noticed that my beloved turkey wrap was GONE! Now, it seems odd to me that in an office less than 20 people that someone would eat someone's sandwich. That's just WEIRD. So I'm thinking that's not what happened... but yet, I do have to wonder where it went. It was definitely there yesterday when I placed the bag in there... it was definitely in there at 4p.m. yesterday when I raided the bag and took the M&Ms.... hrm. So strange.

And if someone DID take it... WOW that's just so rude! And you SO don't want to take a pregnant woman's food. Grr. If I find out who took it, they will FEEL my wrath.

So here I sit, eating my yogurt ... wondering what I'm going to do for lunch. I'll probably shell out $5 for a tuna bagel from the deli next door. $5 I wouldn't have to spend if my wrap hadn't mysteriously disappeared.

Film at 11.

Now Here is Someone I Could Be Friends With...

This was a post I found today on my pregnancy message board. I laughed out loud at my desk all alone. Enjoy. ;)
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"...I know that most everyone on here has a belly button that has popped out like a great tree stump but mine is still an innie. I had a little pooch on my tummy pre-pregnancy that has only just started to go away so that probably explains it.

Anyway, I was laying on our bed the other day and my husband said my belly button looked like a little baby mouth. He started moving the belly button around to make it talk, saying "Hi mommy" and nonsense like that. I started to laugh and I felt something funny. My husband let out a yell and sort of jumped back. My belly button had popped way out as I laughed and I swear it nearly poked him in the eye.

I stopped laughing to figure out what was wrong and the belly button sucked back in. After hearing the story I started to laugh again and *POP* out came the belly button.

Now I can pop my belly button in and out like it's a New Year's Eve noisemaker. I'm sure that this isn't uncommon but I'd never heard anyone talk about it before. I think I should throw a party, I have a feeling I'd be the life of it."
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I hope MY belly button does this! What a cool trick! ;)

Weekend...

Not much happened this weekend, therefore, no blog entries. Sorry folks. I ran around all day yesterday. Part of my mission was to finally get the prints for the nursery framed but I have had a heck of a time finding frames that work. I was trying to save money by not getting them custom framed, but it seems that custom framing might have been the better choice. Argh. So six trips to Michaels and about $200 later, the pictures are framed. Hooray.

Now the room has to be painted. I was hoping all of this would be much easier, but alas, no. So next weekend, I guess it's off to fight the Christmas crowd at Home Depot so I can buy paint supplies. More later...

Okay, Are We There Yet?

Just over 16 weeks to go and I think I am officially getting tired of this now. It's getting hard to sleep at night for several reasons: 1) I wake up a lot and my back hurts 2) I wake up a lot because I have to go to the bathroom 3) I wake up a lot because I have to blow my nose and 4) I wake up a lot because of the silly acid reflux thing.

I'm also starting to feel unmanageably fat and gross. I hear this only gets worse. Oh joy. My face is all chubby, my chest has exploded and some of my favorite maternity shirts are starting to not fit. I'm just about five pounds away from hitting 150 on the scale, which, although only about four pounds above average at this point in pregnancy, makes me want to cry.

The baby moves a lot, which is fun. But in exchange for the entertainment, he makes it hard for me to locomote, hard for me to bend over and hard for me to eat a full meal. (without having to take four Tums right after).

I keep hoping someone will just hit me with a tranquilizer dart and wake me up in March. Better yet, wake me up after he's born. Which, by the way, BETTER not be after March 25 or you will find me curled up in a ball in a corner somewhere rocking back and forth.

Thanksgiving Dinner

I can't concentrate at work today because all I can think about is eating Thanksgiving dinner. Yum.

3-D Ultrasounds...

I FINALLY found a place in Maryland that does 3-d ultrasounds. Some hospitals probably have them, but you have to be sent there by your doctor, and my doctor only uses St. Joes, so the trick was to find a place that just does them for fun. Anyway, it's this place. It's all the way out in Rockville, but I think it's worth it. Now I still have to talk Tom into letting me do it, because it's $160. Personally, I don't think that's THAT much money for all the stuff they give you with it and because it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. But we are preparing to be a one-income family, so his money concern is understandable. The woman on the phone told me they get the best images between 28 and 34 weeks, so I scheduled it for January 24th, when I'll be 31 weeks. We'll see, I might cancel it, especially if I get another insurance-covered ultrasound later on because of the baby's current feet-first position. ;) (Hooray for baby!)

Anyway, if you'd like to see some 3-d ultrasound images, you can visit this page. They're pretty neat. :)

My Tummy is Alive!

Last night, Tom and I were watching tv, but it must have been boring, because we both ended up watching my tummy instead. Actually, this is an activity we take part in frequently. Up until this point, we hadn't seen anything except my heartbeat and occasionally, if I put the remote control on there, it might rock back and forth now and then. But last night, my stomach was MOVING. Tom saw it right away... little occasional bumps that poked out and this weird ripply movement which I guess is the baby flipping or swimming from side to side or something. To quote an old Survivor episode, "It's CREEEEPY." (but very cool) ;)

Milestone!

Found this at www.americanbaby.com. We don't want Benjamin to be born now, but it's nice to know that he COULD be born now and have a good chance!

"The end of this week is an important milestone: Your one-pounder would have a good chance of survival if born now--about 85 percent if given the right care. His body is well proportioned, although lacking in body fat, and the blood vessels in his lungs are developing to prepare for breathing. About 50 percent of "early preemies" experience complications ranging from eye problems to intracranial hemorrhage (spontaneous bleeding in the brain); the rate drops steadily from the 24th week onward. "

Ben Visits Great Grandma

Today we're taking Ben, in all his fetal splendor, to see his great grandma, my nana. Should be fun... my newlywed cousin will be there too. :) I need to remember to take the ultrasound pictures with me since nana has never even turned on a computer.

On another non-baby topic, people have been asking me for christmas ideas, so I'll post a christmas list here for those who are interested. :)

Baby Needs His Space!

The nursery has its own closet. It's a decent sized closet that had previously served to house Tom's suits and various other dress clothes. Last week, during my cleaning frenzy, I removed said suits and placed them into our bedroom closet. Later that evening, Tom discovered this, saying, "I wish you had told me you were going to move all my suits to a very wrinkle-prone environment in order to make room for all of the baby's SIX things."

When I looked at the nursery closet again, I couldn't help but laugh. Actually, I believe it's eight things. ;) Hrm.. I guess he kind of DOES have a point.


Also, we have gotten some of the CUTEST little baby things from people. Featured on this page are some clothes we recently received from two of my fearful flying friends Bonnie and Lynda and a really cute bib that Miss Joan made for Benjamin too. :)

I'm Tired of This Conversation...

At least twice a week, I have the following conversation with someone:

Them: So, do you know what you're having?"
Me: Yep. It's a boy.
Them: What are you naming him?
Me: Benjamin.
Them: Oh how nice. What's his middle name?
Me: Oh well uh... er... hrm... that IS his middle name. His first name is actually Thomas, after my husband. We're just calling him by his middle name.
Them: Oh.

----------
Now, I understand we brought this on ourselves by doing the whole "calling the child by the middle name" thing... but it's really getting old. I tried convincing Tom that it would be just as much his namesake if we switched the names around and Thomas was the middle name, but he's latched onto the name as it is now.

I suppose I should be grateful because he was always in favor of actually calling our first boy by a name other than Tom. It's a tradition I would have gone along with if it if he had really insisted, but he really didn't want to ... and I'm very excited that our child gets his very own special name. However, I just know some semblance of the above name conversation will be had hundreds of times before Benjamin ever even gets to school... and then after that, it will be his burden to bear. :(

In other news, I heard a rumor that Tom's mom, who I know was a tad annoyed with us for calling our son Benjamin, has reached a level of acceptance with it. To what extent she has accepted it, I don't know. But even if its a small development, I am very, very happy about this.

While her acceptance of our choice of name is not a necessity, it does make things a little nicer when talking about the baby with her since we naturally would like to call him by his name now. I had been avoiding using his name when at their house because it always seemed to make things tense. And I don't WANT to make things tense... I just want our first official decision as parents to be respected. :)

My Voracious Appetite: I TOLD You All I Can't HELP It!

I found this article this morning... I knew I had seen it somewhere back when I first got pregnant. But now that I know we're having a boy, it seems much more relevant.

Researchers have found that women who are carrying boys tend to eat more during their pregnancy than women who are carrying girls. Read on!

Interesting Predicament...

** update ** I returned home from work only to find that we have no water HERE either. I have a newfound appreciation for running water...

** update ** It's 8:30p.m. and the water is back on. "Hooray for flushing toilets!" says the resident pregnant chick.

There was a water-main break close to my office earlier that seems to have wiped out ALL water and water-related activities within 10 miles or so. Considering how often the baby kicks my bladder these days, it's not a good situation to be in. Although, some of my co-workers seem a little worse off than me at the moment. Four of us went to lunch at a restaurant that was far enough away to have water... so we took advantage of their facilities. I know I only have about two hours of comfort though before a working bathroom again becomes a necessity. Stay tuned...

Blizzard Baby Boom

I was just watching a story on the news about a baby boom that is currently taking place... apparently it coincides with February's blizzard. That's funny! They said they are expecting another that will be exactly nine months after hurricaine Isabel.

We do in fact, know exactly where and when Benjamin was conceived. And actually, it's sort of funny ... one reader of my blog in particular will find it especially funny. Has anyone ever heard of a little town called Bethany Beach, Delaware? ;)

Conception stories are such a great way to completely gross out your children later. According to legend, I was also conceived at the beach. And Tom's parents won't let us forget that he was conceived in the bed that is currently ours. (different mattress, thank GOD). Ew.

Flu Shot and Banana Splits

Yesterday I got a flu shot in an effort to protect Benjamin and me from unnecessary sicky-poo'ness this winter. This morning I heard on the news that the CDC apparently guessed wrong about which strain of flu was coming through this season. And they are now seeing a flu that is not covered by the shot. Hooray. Luckily, I seem to have somehow acquired the Graff immune system and tend not to catch things... (knock on wood) so we'll see how that goes.

In other exciting news, I stopped at the store on my way home from work last night because I had spent the last two hours at my desk thinking about banana splits. I bought ice cream, hot fudge, magic shell, caramel, bananas, whipped cream, jimmies and nuts and was the happiest pregnant woman on earth after dinner last night. I've been doing well with keeping the pregnancy weight gain under control for several months now so I didn't even feel guilty. I'm thinking I better not make a habit of this though. :\

Happy Birthday Baby...

**update** Found this hysterically funny website... laughing hard.

Well, we just got back from the doctor. Everything looks and sounds wonderful.
BUT...

Benjamin is measuring a WEEK large. The doctor didn't make a big deal out of this and she's not even changing my due date. But, if we assume he'll probably come a week earlier than originally predicted, he's due on or around the 18th of March. This puts him weirdly close to my birthday on the 16th. That would be a neato b-day present. :)

Also, he is feet first. Again, the doctor didn't make a big deal out of it but it has me a little worried. If he doesn't move that almost certainly means c-section. Argh. So I will be standing on my head every night from now on. ;)

Almost 22 Weeks...

**update** I didn't throw up today! Hooray!
Now, back to our regularly scheduled post...

I'm always ahead of myself when I read these development updates. I'm the kind of person who skips to the last chapter of a book to find out what's going to happen... so it's to be expected. Also, I have a doctor's appointment today, so I thought an update was appropriate. ;)

Anyway, as of two days from now, here's what's going on! By the way, I've gained between 17 - 20 pounds so far, depends on the day.
----------------------
The baby now weighs almost a pound, measures nearly 11 inches long, and is proportioned like a newborn, albeit a thinner version since her baby fat hasn't yet developed. Although he's getting heavier every day, his skin still appears wrinkled because he needs to gain more weight. The lips are distinct and the eyes are formed, though the iris (the colored part of the eye) still lacks pigment. The pancreas, essential in the production of hormones, is developing steadily.
Even this early, the first signs of teeth appear in the form of tooth buds beneath the gum line. Before you know it, your baby will be born, and soon after, flashing his pearly whites.

You've likely gained between 12 and 15 pounds. Starting now you'll begin to put on weight more steadily, averaging about half a pound per week.

Another Funny Baby Name Website

Someone on my March 2004 Expecting message board posted this one. I've only read one section so far, but it's VERY funny. Go here

In baby news, Benjamin is moving more and more everyday. He seems to move around the most once I am settled into bed for the night, despite me telling him that it's time for sleep. Hrm. Tom says this means he takes after me. I say this means he takes after Tom. We're both ADD so it's really a toss-up.

The point is, whenever I stop doing things, it's like the baby says, "I'm bored!!! ::kick kick:: HEY! What are we gonna do now! ::wham:: How 'bout some of that music.. or food!! Yeah! ::kick:: food would be good!! Anything but sleeeeeep!!! :: kick kick kick kick kick kick :: Sleep is BORRRRRRRING... ::kick::"

Happy Saturday!

Also, Jen, call me about next weekend because I think my grandmother is moving our dinner to next Sunday. So if we go out, it'll have to be Saturday probably.

Little Itty Bitty Baby Things

I had to run some errands during lunch today and one of them took me in the vicinity of Toys R Us. I wandered in and immediately found myself surrounded by the cutest teeny tiny little shirts and pants and pajamas and socks and hats and coats. What is it about things being tiny that makes them so irresistible?

I was drawn to one thing in particular, but I resisted the urge to buy it. (actually, I was deterred by the long line at the cash registers). It was a blue onsie with a little dragon on the front that said "King of the Castle." Sooooo cute. I may have to go get it tomorrow afternoon. That is unless my mom beats me to it. (psst, it's in the back right-hand corner, right under the hungry caterpillar pajamas)

I also put back a "Daddy's Little Boy." bib that I may have to go back and get as a stocking stuffer for Tom. I am also in search of some sort of baseball outfit/onsie. So if anyone sees one, let me know.

Me and my Visa really need to stay out of Toys R Us.

Baby Mozart...

So ever since my friend Jen told me that they played classical music for Ryan while she was pregnant and later, after Ryan was born, he got very calm when he heard the same music, I've been doing research about why this is...

I've found tons of interesting information... first and foremost everyone should know that there is NO evidence to support that doing this makes your baby any smarter.

However, babies CAN hear sounds and remember them starting at about 20 weeks. And there is TONS of scientific evidence that proves exactly what Jen found out... that when a baby hears familiar music or sounds that he or she heard in the womb, those sounds can have a calming effect.

Calm is good.

Anything that DOES calm is good. I'm sold.

So today, baby is listening to one of my Mozart cd's while I work. He seems to be enjoying it (or at least responding) because he's kicking a lot more than he usually does in the afternoon.

Anyway, I know I've posted about this topic before, I just find it fascinating.

I also found this little nugget that made me laugh:

"...Some also say that fetuses breathe in time to music they enjoy. California obstetrician Dr. Rene Van de Carr says he's observed a 33-week-old fetus pattern his breathing to the beat of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. Dr. van de Carr, who wrote While You're Expecting...Your Own Prenatal Classroom and teaches parents how to stimulate their unborn babies through music and other exercises at his Prenatal University in Hayward, California, says because the fetus followed the rhythm of the symphony, it's obvious he learned something about the rhythm and enjoyed it..."

Randomly Rename Yourself!

Tired of your name? Try this!

Benjamin's temporary new name is: Deacon Bo Graff. ;)
Catchy, eh?

Benjamin's First Friend...

Benjamin got a chance to talk to his future best friend Ryan on the phone today. My friend Jen called right before lunch and her almost-three-month-old baby Ryan was babbling up a storm. I think he was trying to tell Benjamin how rockin' the world outside the womb is. Ben was flipping all over the place, so maybe he got the message! Who knows... I can't wait until they meet. :)

Firstborn Lament...

I was reading the recent post in Krystyna's Blog . She talks about being the fiance of a middle child and how it's annoying because nothing they do as a is a first for the extended family. (For those of my readers who don't know, Krystyna is engaged to Tom's middle brother Marc and they are getting married in 2005.)

While I can understand this slightly bitter sentiment... and I know for a fact I would feel the same way if I were in her shoes, there are certainly many advantages to NOT being the pioneers.... here are a few points I'd like to make.

1)The first-born is much more of a people pleaser than the successive children. NOT good for when you need to rock the boat a bit.

2) You think it was fun being the first to "take away" a Graff son? Ponder THAT one for awhile... Call me Cruella de Ville!

3) The parents KNOW what to expect and hopefully have learned something from previous experience with the first child. This logic should follow through to the wedding of the second child, right? Which means, less stress, less emotional upheaval, etc... right? And I gotta say, as someone who dropped 13 pounds the month before my wedding, less stress certainly would have been nice.

4) Marc and Krystyna have the opportunity to NOT make all the same mistakes Tom and I have made along the way. I've always been a little jealous of this because if they use what the learned from watching us screw up over and over again, they really can have a much more pleasant experience than we had. And there are SO many things I'd do differently if I could do the wedding/engagement years over again.

5) As far as babies go, every baby in a family is special. Yeah, we are having the first grandchild, but who is he going to play with? There aren't any cousins yet. And that's when the fun starts. In the meantime, he's going to have to sit in the living room and talk to the adults for years!

6) There is still the opportunity to have the first GIRL grandchild, something I'd give my left arm for. And if you ask me, in that family full of boys, the first girl is CERTAINLY going to make a splash!

7) Let's not forget that outside of the immediate Graff family, nothing either ONE of us as a couple does is particularly innovative or special because the Graff boys are the youngest grandchildren. So really, we're in the same boat that way. Everything's old news.

That's all I got for now. Trust me, being attached to the first-born isn't a picnic all the time either.

Oh, and one other point in the Graffs' defense. I have never SEEN a house where things between the children were more equitable. If there is any different treatment of any one of them, it has to do with catering to differences in their temperment, interests and personalities. Marc doesn't like to golf... so no he doesn't share in THAT part of the family bonding, but he gets to build things in the garage w/ his father all the time, something they share that Tom and Taylor will never have! There are lots of other examples.

I really think it's just a matter of your perspective. Greener grass and that sort of thing.

Just my two cents.

I hope I haven't lost my other readers with my diatribe. More baby news later, I promise. :)

Halfway There -- Top 10 (or 15) Favorite Pregnancy Moments So Far… (in chronological order)

1) Seeing two lines on the pregnancy test, staring at it in disbelief for five minutes, doing a double take, and then realizing what two lines meant…


2) Telling Tom there were two lines on the pregnancy test, watching him realize what that meant…


3) Calling Mom at 6:50 in the morning after seeing two lines on the pregnancy test, waiting for her to wake up and realize what that meant…

4) Hearing my dad freak out because the phone rang at 6:50 in the morning, thinking something is wrong and hearing my mom say "Nothing’s WRONG… your daughter’s pregnant."

5) Trying to surprise Tom’s parents with the news, realizing they already suspected, but then seeing them WAY more excited than they were when we got engaged.

5b) Telling Aunt Gail on the phone (or rather, hearing her guess correctly on the phone) that I was pregnant… hearing mom scream in the background because she didn’t have to keep the secret anymore.

6) Hearing the baby’s heartbeat at our first doctor’s appointment at 10 weeks.

7) Telling Miss Debbie that we’d like her to be our baby’s godmother. Watching her think we were kidding. Then watching her realize we were serious.

7b) Feeling the baby move for the first time.


8) Tom’s reaction when the ultrasound technician said, "And Dad, you can sit over here." After she left he said, "Wow… no one’s called me Dad before…"

9) Seeing the baby for the first time on the ultrasound monitor/Finally learning that it was a he/Seeing him move and counting all the little fingers and toes.

10a) Calling mom from the ultrasound room and saying "It’s a boy." And her first words being, "It’s is NOT! Are you SERIOUS?!"

10b) Going to Tom’s parents’ house the day after the ultrasound… and seeing them even MORE excited than they were when we told them I was pregnant.

10c) Tom finally feeling the baby move for the first time while simultaneously "teaching" the baby about baseball.

We Picked a Theme for the Nursery! :)

When it turned out baby was a Benjamin and not a Madeline, I must admit, it sort of threw a wrench into my nursery decor plans. BUT, I have since found suitable replacements for the Madeline and Charlotte's Web prints. I have always said that if we have a boy, I absolutely REFUSE to do the nursery in trucks or baseball bears etc.. ICK.

So, in keeping with the chidlren's book theme, we've decided to go with "Guess How Much I Love You?" Here are some pictures. One is of the bedding, the other three are prints for the wall.

Now It's Time to Say Goodbye to All Our Company...

M-I-C-K-E-Y- M-O-U-S-E! Yes, today is the sad, sad day that we have to check out of our hotel and wander around Disneyworld homeless until 4:30 when the shuttle will come pick us up and take us back to the airport.

Dinner at England last night was wonderful, by the way. Baby says two thumbs up. And the waitress promised Tom that everything we had was authentic British food. He was happy about that because two years ago, we ate dinner in China at EPCOT and the waitress told him that all the food was Americanized and not what the Chinese really eat.

Another exciting chapter of pregnancy has unfolded while I've been here in Florida-- Braxton Hicks contractions. Very interesting and weird I must say. Tom gets a kick (sometimes literally) out of how hard my tummy gets when that happens. Not to worry, according the the pregnancy stuff I read, they are supposed to start right around now... and they're not happening a lot... just two or three times while we've been here.

That's all the news for today. Like I said, we get kicked out of our hotel room after breakfast, so I won't be able to check back in before our flight home. Tomorrow it's back to work with no big exciting events left to look forward to except Benjamin's birthday... which is a pretty big deal, but weirds me out a little. ;)

See you all when we get home!
-Erin, Tom and Benjmain

Disney Food for Growing Babies

This trip has been devoted to discovering new and exciting food here at Disneyworld. Seemed appropriate since I am an eating machine these days. Thursday night we ate at an African restaurant and it was AMAZING.... we've also eaten at Morroco in EPCOT and tonight we're eating in England at EPCOT. Benjamin says two thumbs up on all the food so far. And health-wise, the stuff we're eating sure tops the chicken fingers and fries I usually partake of here in mouseland.

In baby news, Ben starting something new today... kicking just underneath my right bottom rib. This is an interesting development since it means he can actually REACH all the way up there. It seems like just yesterday he was the size of a raisin. (see the July archives) ;) We looked at a picture of a 20-week fetus this morning on a baby website and he is getting SO big.

Another exciting development has occured over the last two days, and that is the need to visit a bathroom every 20 minutes or so. Luckily, Disney is one of the best places to be with this particular problem! Bathrooms galore! Ask me about any bathroom in any park and I'll give you the lowdown. :)

We're headed back out to EPCOT in a few, but I just wanted to check in. Write later!

-Erin, Tom and jr. mouseketeer Benjamin

Disney, Day 3

Today we started out at MGM studios... but I had an "I'm fat" meltdown about an hour in. (there are WAY too many mirrors and very reflective windows in that park). So we came back the hotel and rested until lunchtime and then headed out to the Magic Kingdom. My day improved when I got to meet two people from my fear of flying group, Lynda and Bonnie. Lynda is from England and she came to Disney with her husband Patrick and her beautiful granddaughters Amy and Yasmine. We had a great time in the park and Tom showed the girls everything he knows about Disney and took them on the rides Lynda won't go on. ;) Bonnie is just as wonderful in person as she is online. I credit these two people with being able to make the trip to Disney on a plane without freaking out. As you can imagine, Tom is also very grateful that I don't force him to drive 18 hours everytime we want to come to Orlando.

Benjamin was quiet most of the day until we got to the Tiki Room, then he started bouncing around. I think he's got some rhythm, something my dad will be happy to hear. ;)

We also picked up little Ben his first pair of ears, a gift from Tom's parents. As instructed, we had them embroidered with "Baby Graff." I wasn't sure why we didn't just put Ben's name on the ears, but they were strict instructions, and it wasn't our $7.00, so we just went with it.

Time for bed now. (even though it seems the baby is WIDE awake... I hope this isn't hint at what's to come when he's born). Goodnight!

Another Day at Disney...

Today we went to the Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom and Downtown Disney. Tom made his first purchase: a stuffed Beaker from the Muppets. :) We also shopped for baby... a little blue cap and a onsie that says Disney World Baby. Very cute...

I took a new belly picture today, but can't post it until I get home because I don't have the right software on the laptop. Argh. But stay tuned.

Also, I've discovered that wearing the maternity shirts and thus looking as pregnant as possible gets me a seat on the bus more often than not! Wahoo! A point for pregnancy!

Ben's First Trip to Disney...

Baby enjoyed his first plane ride this morning... he also enjoyed kicking mommy's bladder for the entire last 20 minutes of the flight. After a LONG morning and a LONG shuttle ride and then a LONG wait at the hotel to check in, we finally started our first day in Disney World with a visit to Epcot. Doing Disney pregnant is a lot harder than I thought it would be. Walking is hard, standing is hard, going 20 minutes without visiting a bathroom is hard... but we're having a great time. I'm just exhausted. Ben must have slept all day while I was walking though because he's all over the place right now. Should be interesting when I try to sleep in a little while.

I'll update tomorrow! Goodnight from Erin, Tom and baby mouseketeer Benjamin. :)

Amazing picture...

Here's a picture of the hand of a 21-week old baby grasping the hand of the doctor who is doing surgery on him. The story that goes with it is also incredible. The coolest part is that this is about how big Benjamin's hands are right now...

Our First Pictures of Benjamin...

this is going to temporarily throw off the layout of my blog, but I think it's worth it. :)

Here's the "It's a boy" confirmation...

And here's his little foot... look 5 toes!

Finally!

Well, the verdict is in... and... I was right. IT'S A BOY! Finally we can call him by his name. Everyone say hello to Ben! :) I'll post the ultrasound pics later. For now, just take my word for it that all of his parts are present in the correct numbers and places. The ultrasound tech remarked that he has a very pretty brain. Speaking of which, everyone who has seen the pictures keeps remarking that his head sort of looks big... if that's true, I'd like to say right now that it's Tom's fault. :)

It's a...

Well, we hopefully find out tomorrow. But here's a weird dream I had last night.
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In the dream, Tom's mom was having another baby. She went in another room, gave birth and handed the baby to Tom. (my Tom, not her Tom). It was all wrapped up and you could only see its face. I caught a glimpse of a little name card that was tied to the blanket that said "I'm a girl. My name is Rosie." (ew!). I got the feeling I wasn't supposed to see this card because Genet wanted the sex to be a secret. I asked Tom what the baby was and Genet said "Go ahead, you can tell her."

Tom said, "It's a girl..." but then right at that moment he pulled the blanket off and there were boy parts.

I said "Um... no it's not."

Tom got this hugely surprised look on his face and started laughing and yelled into the other room, "Mom! It's NOT a girl. Look!" Genet came and looked and was visibly disappointed but then a moment later she thought it was funny and started to laugh.

---------------
What the HECK does that mean? I don't know. Anyone good at dream interpretation? Bring it on. :)

Stand Up and Be Counted!

Okay, 22 of you have voted in my guess the gender poll... yay! So here's your chance to get competitive with those other 21 people!! If you want to play, copy and paste the following questions into an email, and send them to me by 9:00a.m. Monday morning. Whoever has the most answers correct (or close to correct) after the ultrasound on Monday is the winner!
(of a mention on my blog and a lot of personal satisfaction) ;)

Go here for the questions. (copying and pasting wasn't working from here)


Feel free to "cheat" and research average weights and lengths for a 19-20 week fetus at any of these websites.

BabyZone
IVillage
About.com

Have fun and good luck!!

Wow!

We're a few days away from the 20-week (halfway) point! Wahoo!

I've been playing music for the baby a lot, not because I think it will make him/her some sort of super-genius, but because I figure it can't do any harm. So I was happy to find this little tidbit in my travels today. Mostly I just crank up whatever I'm listening to the in the car on the way to work... this week, we've listened to Simon and Garfunkel's Concert in Central Park, ElmoPalooza, a nice mix of some classical stuff, Charlotte Church, and various Disney cd's. ;)

------------------------------------------------------------------------
In a fascinating new discovery, scientists at England's Keele and Bath Universities have demonstrated that unborn babies begin to hear and remember as early as 20 weeks -- at least four weeks earlier than previously thought.

According to The London Telegraph, researchers found that the fetus at 20 weeks had memory and perceptive capacity in the lower part of the brain, the thalamus. Scientists had believed that, because the upper part of the brain -- the cortex -- did not develop until weeks later, the unborn child could not hear.

In the study, researchers played music for unborn children at 20 weeks. Then they tested the response of babies two to three weeks after birth, and observed that their responses indicated they remembered the musical selections, and were soothed by replay.

If It's on the Web, I'll Find it...

Further proving my point that you really can find information on anything on the Internet, here's an article (one of many) that I found about going to Disney World while pregnant. I don't care what they say, I'm not too big to get on the Mad Tea Party. :P

Busy Baby...

Okay, so I've come to the conclusion that this child has a sense of humor. He/she seems to have some sort of sixth sense as to when Tom leaves the room. Why? Because that's when he/she starts kicking the living daylights out of my bladder in what can only be described as a viscious attempt to get the heck out of his/her uterine prison.

BUT, as soon as Tom comes back in the room, baby decides it's time to play the statue game. It's reminiscent of the great Big Bird/Snuffulupagus Saga of 1981. Those of you who were avid Sesame Street watchers during that era know what I'm talking about. It was only the most frustrating season of television history!

I picture him/her just laughing his/her little head off in there. Meanwhile, I think Tom thinks I'm imagining all this kicking.

By the way, only four more days until I can STOP referring to baby as him/her and finally start using a name. Hooray!

Subway Says....

I just went to pick up lunch at Subway, the girl a.k.a. *sandwich artist* behind the counter (she's waited on me for over 5 years and I still don't know her name) announced in between taking sandwich orders that I am having a girl. I asked why she thought so and she said "Because a girl just totally changes your whole body." Hrm. Interesting. Not exactly a compliment, but I'll take it.

My entire office has voted girl... and they are all very sure, which is funny, because I am FAR from sure of ANYthing. Matt here at work says it has to be a girl because he can't see me with a boy. Interesting theory, but lacking any scientific evidence. ;)

Question for all of my readers: What do you think of the name Liam for a boy? Do you think it's too different/weird/pretentious/gay-sounding for a boy? Just curious. Post your opinion. :) Other names to comment on: Lucas, Scott and Simon. ??? Thoughts???

A Big Congratulations!

To Meghan and Tim who just found out yesterday that they are having a baby boy! I'm so insanely jealous that they know already and I am still in the dark.... but happy for them none-the-less.

They are doing something very smart that I should have thought of a LONG time ago. They are keeping the name a secret until the baby is born. Why didn't *I* think of that?! Not that I can keep a secret, but it would have been fun to try. :\

Just Trying to Pass the Time...

Seven more days until my ultrasound. Argh! It was supposed to be today, which is even more frustrating. Meghan is having her u/s today (she's due a week or so before me). And she better post her news on my tag-board!! (hint hint) :)

Nine more days until Disney World! Too many exciting things to look forward to! It's amazing I can sleep at ALL...

...which brings me to my next rant-- the time change. I have been wide awake at 5:30 a.m. for two days in a row now. I'm tired and cranky and not very happy about this. Stupid time change.

One last rant for today: Maternity jeans. Who makes these things? I'm 5'2" and around 124 in my non-pregnant state. Pretty average and proportional. I've tried on maternity jeans at four different stores. They come in three sizes: small, medium and large. Grr! The smalls I can't even pull up past my knees, the mediums are so tight in the legs I can't BEND my knees, the larges, while there are no problems involving knees or thighs, are about six inches too long and so big around the waist I have to hold them up when I walk. It's a travesty.

And for my non-rant of the day: The baby is moving all the time now. It's still weird, but nice to have frequent affirmation that there's actually something in there. :)

Furniture Pics....

Thanks to Tom's parents for lending us their mini van and their muscles to help us get the furniture in the room this afternoon...

And thank you to my parents for buying us the crib. It's beautiful!

There's still a lot of decorating to do though!!

.

An Addendum to My Last Post/Today's News

Last night I had a dream we were putting together the nursery. In the dream, we were taking old things out of the room and bringing in the stuff that belonged there. (I phrase it that way because in my head in the dream, this is what I felt like I was doing) At one point, I picked up a pair of little white shoes with white ruffled socks stuffed into them and put them on a shelf right in the front of the closet.

I swear, if this baby turns out to be a girl, I'm going to be seriously FREAKED out.

On a less freaky note, we are picking picking up the furniture for the baby's room this afternoon. I can't wait! Tom's parents and brother Taylor are coming over to help Tom move the heavy stuff. (I'm not allowed to help move things since apparently being pregnant makes me a helpless invalid.. grr!) Tom's other brother Marc can't help because he is a bum and is on a cruise.

Later, Mom and Miss Debbie might come over to see the already very spoiled rotten baby's room. Mom and Dad gave us the crib as our Christmas gift, so she might be coming over to tag it and put a big red bow on it so we remember that's what we asked for. ;)

I'll post a picture or two later!

Baby Dreams...

I was reading a thread on my pregnancy message board today about the accuracy of gender dreams during pregnancy. Someone on there took a poll to find out how many people who had had dreams about baby's sex actually found out the dreams were right. The results were really interesting... in fact, everyone who posted, said the dreams didn't lie!

That's just creepy.

So, I wanted to get this down for the record. (since this will go in our baby book). I've had five dreams with babies in them. Three dreams were about single baby girls. One dream was about girl twins (with red hair?!), and I had one last night was about boy/girl twins.

And then there's Tom who had the dream about me giving birth to the 3-inch baby with no gender. But I think he just ate too much pizza that night or something.

Anyway, there seems to be an overwhelming girl/twin vibe going on in my subconscious. (even though walking around during the day, I sort of think of it as a boy lately). I'm hoping the twin thing is just a random synapse.

I guess we'll see soon!

The Things I Like Most about Being Pregnant...

I can rattle off at least 50 things I am definitely *not* enjoying about being pregnant -- from the constant burning in my throat, to my less than thrilling clothing options, to my most recent discovery : hair on my stomach. (ew!)

But, in an effort to stay positive, I have come up with the following list of things that I do enjoy about being pregnant. Here we go:

1) Elastic pants: Now, in a non-pregnant state, I find elastic pants a little... well, icky. But I have never been so comfortable as I am in my Old Navy elastic pouch khaki pants. I'm considering wearing them on my bloaty days when I'm NOT pregnant.

2) Food: Everywhere I go, everyone wants to feed me. Seriously, what would normally be considered an unhealthy zeal for eating is applauded. Oh, and if I ask for two kinds of potatoes, that's what I get.

3) My stomach is *supposed* to look this way.

4) I can go to bed really early and blame it on being pregnant. When I did this before, people just thought I was acting like an old person. Oh, another thing I have discovered, is that pregnant people and old people have a lot in common. But more on that later.

5) Tom feels so guilty about the state he has put me in, that he'll make me tea or dinner whenever I ask for it. I try not to take advantage of this very often, but it's hard because he makes REALLY good pasta dishes.

6) It always makes for halfway interesting conversation, even with the most boring conversationalists.

7) There's a lot of shopping involved.

8) While I can no longer see past my tummy when I am laying down, I CAN see the inside of my belly button.

9) People don't try to make me drink champagne or wine anymore.

10) No one seems to care that I wear tennis shoes to work now -- even though, when you think about it, these two things have no correlation.

11) It gives me an outlet for my obsessive need to gather medical information from the web. Before, this usually resulted in me thinking I had some terminal disease.

more to come as I think of them...

Comment on Poll Results...

Wow. So an overwhelming majority of you think we're having a girl. I personally voted boy. But I overthought the gender and psyched myself out weeks ago. So my mother's intuition is, for lack of a better word, broken.

Here's something interesting you may not know! (well, those of you who don't regularly research pregnancy on the internet anyway..anyone? anyone? Brian, put your hand down, you don't count.)... In an ultrasound, a girl isn't determined because they can't find boy parts, they actually look for what they refer to as "three lines."

Here's a link to a website that talks about it. I just thought it was sort of interesting.

Glad there's going to be someone there telling me what i'm looking at, because it just looks like fuzzy white noise to me.

Wax on... Wax off...

Baby's new nickname is the Karate Kid. Since yesterday he/she has been kicking/punching at my lower abdomen with such force, that I'm pretty sure if I was looking down there at the right time, I might actually be able to see it poke out. I gotta say, it's a tad uncomfortable and keeps taking me by surprise. Suzanne, who occupies the office next door to me and had a baby this time last year, said it gets worse. My friend Jen says her baby used to kick her rib. This sounds unpleasant. Hrm.

I've been sitting here trying to come up with something else interesting to write about for today. But all I can really think about is what's for dinner. HUNGRY.

And another thing...

I'm sick of drinking water.

The Things We've Handed Down

Lyrics by Marc Cohn:

Don't know much about you
Don't know who you are
We've been doing fine without you
But we could only go so far

Don't know why you chose us
Were you watching from above
Is there someone there that knows us
Said we'd give you all our love

Will you laugh just like your mother
Will you sigh like your old man
Will some things skip a generation
Like I've heard they often can

Are you a poet or a dancer?
A devil or a clown?
Or a strange new combination of
The things we've handed down...

I wonder who you'll look like
Will your hair fall down in curls
Will you be a mama's boy
Or daddy's little girl

Will you be a sad reminder
Of what's been lost along the way
Maybe you can help me find her
In the things you do and say

And these things that we have given you
They are not so easily found
But you can thank us later
For the things we've handed down

You may not always be so grateful
For the way that you were made
Some feature of your father's
That you'd gladly sell or trade

And one day you may look at us
And say that you were cursed
But over time that line has been
Extremely well rehearsed

By our fathers, and their fathers
In some old and distant town
From places no one here remembers
Come the things we've handed down ...

It's a Three-Post Kinda Day...

I am very very VERY tired today -- a side effect either getting up too early, being pregnant, or a combination of the two. At any rate, posting is what's keeping me awake at my desk.

...So.... I thought I'd post an update for those of you who are more interested in the baby and less interested in the baby's name for the moment.

Baby moves around a LOT -- mainly during times when I am trying to sleep. Sometimes, the flippy-flop feeling actually takes my breath away. It's just too weird and amazing for words.

Tom still can't feel it. Supposedly it will be a few weeks before he can. It's very sad. He tries a lot but all he can feel is my pulse. (which somehow has migrated down to my tummy). In the end, he usually just gets frustrated with the whole thing and wanders off to play a computer game or watch Law and Order. :)

Baby's eyes and ears have moved to where they are supposed to be. This has done a lot for making baby look less like an alien. Hooray!

Supposedly it weighs almost half a pound. That's how much American cheese I buy at the deli. That's no light-weight!

Crown to rump (whatever that means) baby is about 18cm in length. But I don't know anything about the metric system so I really don't know what to compare that to.

That's about it for this week! Thanks for checking in!

An Interesting Read ...

Found this article ... it really needs no further explanation. For those concerned about what we will or will NOT be naming any potential male children and why... Please read.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

..."Exact reproductions of a parent’s name, even followed by a Jr. or II, can be confusing for everyone involved. In addition, on top of it the child never gets the satisfaction of having his own name and therefore an identity all of his own." (See below)

"Phooey on These Juniors"
By Abigail Van Buren (Dear Abby)

Dear Abby: Please print my letter so other mothers won’t make the same mistake I did. After 19 years, I realize the error of naming our son after his father.

When he was a baby, it was no problem we called him Billy and his father was Bill.

When he got older he decided that Billy was too babyish, so he asked us to call him Bill, which wasn’t too bad-we called on Big Bill and the other Little Bill. That worked out fine until Little Bill got bigger than Big Bill.

Now it’s worse. It’s Young Bill and Old Bill and you can imagine how thrilled father is to be Old Bill at 44. Not only that, but their voices are identical, and they are constantly being mistaken for one another on the telephone. Moreover, their mail gets mixed up too.

It’s a pain in the neck. I should have named him Lawrence, like I wanted too. I’ve always loved that name. Phooey on these "Juniors."

Too Late Now


Dear Too Late Now: New mothers take note

Check out the I.N.C.H.

More substance to this post later, but I just found this website and I wanted to share before I forgot where it was. It had me on the floor laughing. I especially love the way this guy has sorted bad naming techniques into categories. You'll have to visit the website to read what they mean. ;)

The "Scrabble Draw" Category
The "How About Another Last Name?" Category
The "Unfortunate Connotation" Category
The "Bogus Blue-Blood" Category
The "Found It On This Here Map" Category
The "Abstract Quality" Category
The "Common Noun" Category
The "Multicultural Mish-Mash" Category
The "Let Me Spell That For You" Category
The "Named Him After My Favorite..." Category


SCROLL DOWN FOR THE POLL... IT'S OVER HERE ON THE SIDEBAR>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

It's All Just a Bunch of Waiting...

I went to my third doctor's appointment this morning. Everything is normal as far as weight, blood pressure and baby's heartbeat are concerned. Unfortunately, I had to postpone my ultrasound a week because we are getting new insurance at work. So now it's November 3rd. :(

In the long run, this is a good thing. The ultrasound place that you get to go to if you have Blue Cross Blue Shield is apparently about a hundred times superior to the place I WAS going to be going. Kinda makes me feel like I was being a little bit jipped as far as medical care before. Hrm.

The doctor said this other place (which is a part of St. Joe's Hospital) will do a much more detailed, thorough scan and that they will put a whole lot more effort into finding out the sex if I want to know. (yes yes yes!)

So now more waiting... argh. I have no patience. Tom on the other hand, seems like he could go the entire nine months without knowing. We are very different that way, he and I.

Two weeks need to hurry up and go by! There is an blank nursery waiting for boy paint or girl paint!
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Before you were conceived I wanted you
Before you were born I loved you
Before you were here an hour I would die for you
This is the miracle of life. -Maureen Hawkins

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What COULD be a Day to Remember...

It is currently 8:00a.m. and I haven't been sick yet. Stay tuned.

UPDATE: 8:07a.m. -- nevermind ...

Also, while I was waiting, I added a new set of links down on the bottom right with some friends' blogs. If you're tired of reading about the joys of pregnancy, give them a visit. :)

Work vs. Home

"If you bungle raising your children, I don't think whatever else you do well matters very much." ~Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
----------------------------------------------

A couple days ago, I sent my boss the official "I'm not coming back once I pop" email. I'm still not sure if he was surprised or what. His wife is a stay-at-home-mom, so I tend to think he's an advocate for someone staying at home when it's possible.

And thus, the countdown begins.

I have spent almost 11 years in the work world now, five of those in my "career" and frankly, I can't wait to get out.

Not that I don't like getting up and going to work everyday. Actually, I like the routine. I like my co-workers. Some days I even enjoy my job.

I think I'm a better person for:
-having experienced four years and $26,000 worth of college (which I'm still repaying)
-having worn a monkey suit and operated bumper cars
-having worked behind a cash register through six holiday seasons (which, btw, is something I think everyone should have to do at some point in their lives),
and
-having a glimpse, however brief, of the professional world.

But my mind is elsewhere... home. And on this little person who I am responsible for bringing up. That's my new full-time job.

So I'll enjoy my last five or so months in the "more civilized" work world, with its adult conversation, meetings and deadlines ... and then I will trade it all in for a world of play-dough, finger-paint and housecleaning.

Gladly. :)

Ambiguous Results...

For fun, I took a quiz that uses all the old wives tales to "predict" what you are having. The results were uh... less than helpful. Then again, I sort of guessed at some of the answers. I have no idea what direction my pillow faces, or if my belly looks more like a basketball or a watermelon.

Congratulations!

You have a 43% chance of having a boy.
And you have a 56% chance of having a girl.

And Here's Why...
You are carrying the extra weight out front, so it's a boy.
The hair on your legs is growing faster during pregnancy, so it's a boy.
Girls are carried high. You are going to have a girl.
Sleeping in a bed with your pillow to the south indicates that you will be having a girl.
Your feet are not colder than they were before pregnancy. You are having a girl.
You refuse to eat the heel of a loaf of bread. You are having a girl.
Dad-to-be hasn't been gaining weight along with Mom-to-be, so it will be a girl.
The maternal grandmother doesn't have gray hair (dyed or natural), so a girl will be born.
You had morning sickness early in pregnancy, so you are expecting a girl.
You are not looking particularly good during pregnancy. Therefore, it must be a girl, because girls steal their mother's looks.
Your chest development has not been very dramatic during pregnancy. You should expect a boy.
Since the sum of the mother's age at conception and the number of the month of conception is even, it will be a boy.
A needle on a thread held over your belly moves in circles, so you will have a boy.
You have a craving for salty or sour foods, which means that it is a boy.
Your nose has not been spreading, which indicates a girl.
You have been craving meats or cheeses, so it is a boy.
Your baby's heart rate is 140 or more beats per minute, so it's a girl.
You must have orange juice every day, so it's a girl.
You are having headaches, so it's a boy.
Your belly looks like a watermelon, so it's a girl.
You show them the palm of your hand, so it's a girl.
You use the body of the mug, so it's a girl.

Are You Pregnant or Just Putting on Weight?

"You should never say anything to a woman that even remotely suggests that you think she's pregnant unless you can see an actual baby emerging from her at that moment."  ~Dave Barry,

I guess people really take that to heart.

Here are some interesting ways people have tried to subtly find out if I'm pregnant:

- "Sooo.... when are YOU guys going to start a family?" (Sharon, my neighbor two doors down-- while staring at my stomach)

- "Eating for two?" (Mary, one of my coworkers, after seeing me emerge from the lunchroom with two hot pockets)

- "And how are you FEELING today, Erin?" (the lady at the deli next door to my office)

and my personal favorite (so far)

- "You and Tom aren't buying one of the single family homes they're building up the street?" (Dennis, my neighbor THREE doors down, while staring at my stomach)

Names Say A Lot!

Bear with me, this is a three-part post:

I. I found this website yesterday. It's a pretty typical baby name site except that, in addition to giving you the meaning of a name, it also tells you what traits people associate with it. Pretty interesting! I looked up our two baby names and also my name and Tom's name and here's what I found. :) My comments are in parentheses after the descriptions.
---------------------------------------------
Madeline:
Origin: "Greek"
Meaning: Magdalene, woman from Magdala
Traits: Madeline is pictured as a pretty blonde who is rich, classy, friendly, and happy.
Famous people with this name: actresses Madeline (Young Frankenstein) Kahn, Madolyn (Urban Cowboy) Smith; novelist/children's story writer Madeleine L'Engle

(yay! Madeline L'Engle! I forgot about that! Wrinkle in Time was one of my favorite books!)
---------------------------------------------
Benjamin
Origin: "Hebrew"
Meaning: son of the right hand
Traits: People think of Benjamin as a smart and inventive man who is tall, strong, and cute.
Famous people with this name: the biblical Benjamin, Joseph's younger brother; American revolutionary/diplomat Benjamin Franklin; President Benjamin Harrison; movie Private Benjamin; baby expert/author Dr. Benjamin (Baby and Child Care) Spock; actor Richard (Goodbye, Columbus) Benjamin; TV character Captain Benjamin (Star Trek) Sisko

(what boy doesn't want to be tall, strong and cute?) :)
--------------------------------------------
Erin:
Origin: "Irish Gaelic"
Meaning: peace
Traits: Most people picture Erin as a cute, fair-skinned Irish woman who is a snobby, self-centered troublemaker. To some, though, Erin is a sweet, plain, family-oriented woman.
Famous people with this name: Erin, another name for Ireland; actresses Erin (Happy Days) Moran, Erin (Silver Spoons) Gray

(that's me, I'm a troublemaker!!!)
---------------------------------------------
Tom:
Traits: Tom is viewed as an all-American, average guy who can fit in anywhere: confident, likable, and down to earth.
Famous people with this name: actors Tom (Jerry Maguire) Cruise, Tom (Apollo 13) Hanks, Tom (The Big Chill) Berenger, Tom (Magnum, P.I.) Selleck; children's story of Tom Thumb; Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel Uncle Tom's Cabin; Mark Twain's novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; basketball's Tom Chambers; singer Tom ("What's New, Pussycat?") Jones; radio talk show host

(Tom is all of those things ... sometimes a little TOO confident as a matter of fact) ;)

II. I took the liberty of looking up some of the names of people who I know might be reading my blog. Here are the links... enjoy!
Nicole
Amy
Krystyna
Brian
Meghan/Megan
Mandy
Jen
Josh
Bonnie
Jessica
Susie
Louise
Suzanne
Linda/Lynda
Jamie
Cindy

If I missed anyone, I'm sorry. Some names stumped the system, including Lexi, Genet and several others. Otherwise, I just ran out of time... but it's easy to look up your name. Just click on the link all the way at the top of my post.

III. I also found this baby name quiz. It tells you what kind of name you should give your baby based on your own personality. Sort of interesting and fun. :)

That's all for today! Have fun!

All That Natural Crap...

Two other questions I hear frequently ...
"Are you going to get the epidural?"
"Are you going to breastfeed?"


Okay, first question. Let's just clear something up.. I don't handle pain well. Ask my dentist,
who, during one of my first visits, announced that he didn't think he could treat me. (apparently I need about 10 times more novacaine than the average patient) For those interested, now that I am caught up with all of my dental "maintenance" Dr. Page and I are on much better terms. (and now I'm pretty sure I'd rather have a tooth filled than be in labor)

As far as labor is concerned, I am still wondering why they don't knock people out anymore. Was there anything so wrong with that?

I think that anyone who has to have contact with me while I'm in labor will benefit from me being as pain-free as medically possible. So the answer is emphatically *YES* I am getting the epidural. Are you insane? I want that thing in a.s.a.p when I get to the hospital.

Of course, I have nothing against people who decide to do it the natural way... (crazy people!) ;)

Second question: NO. I am not going to breastfeed (for many reasons). I am catching a lot of flack about this issue too. Everyone from friends to the guy who fixes the computers at my office seems to have an opinion on this topic.

I know it sounds awful and selfish and horrible, but I'm just not comfortable with it. I hear that it's better for the baby... but Tom and I were both bottlefed babies and we're two of the healthiest people we know. Tom hasn't even had so much as a cold the entire time seven years I've known him!

So there you go... next question please. :)

A Picture ...

A picture of me at 16.5 weeks... courtesy of mom. (who claims I will appreciate this someday)

The More I Think About It...

...the scarier babies seem. Right now, baby is very self-sufficient. I eat. Baby eats. It's all very neat and simple. Baby goes where I go (no clothes or diaper necessary). This parasitic relationship is fascinating. (I originally had the word symbiotic there, but when I thought about it, I really don't get much out of this current relationship except heartburn)

But this time next year, I'll have a wailing 7-month-old throwing strained peas and cheerios all over my kitchen.

Hrm...

Maybe I shouldn't complain about the heartburn.

Erin's Pregnancy FAQ's

1) Are you still feeling sick?
Yes. Yes I am.

2) Really?
Yes. I can not tell a lie.

3) Wow, I’ve heard that’s supposed to end at 12 weeks? Have you heard that?
Yes. And I’m 16 weeks. So apparently that’s not true.What’s your point?

4) Did you know that pregnancy actually lasts about TEN months?
Really? Wait… 9 times 4 is 36. Pregnancy is 40 weeks!! Well gosh darn it, you’re right! I had no idea! Thank you for enlightening me.

5) I see that you are drinking (insert caffeinated beverage of your choice here). Can you
have caffeine?
My standard answer for this one is this: Some women do crack and manage to have healthy babies, some women smoke for their entire pregnancy and have healthy babies, some women never touch a vegetable and have healthy babies … I do none of these things. Caffeine is okay. It’s not like I’m shooting it up. I’m only having a cup of coffee or a glass of soda every now and then.


6) Did you know that a greek salad without the feta cheese is just a garden salad?
Oh. Heh.

7) What do you feel like you’re having?
Honestly, I’m still grappling with the idea that there’s a living parasitic being growing inside of me. I have no idea what it is. Everyone else who has ventured a guess has said they think it’s a girl. But who knows?

8) What do you want it to be? Do you have a preference?
Ahhh… the question to which the PC answer is "a healthy child, of course!" Well, DUH. That’s first and foremost. But of COURSE I have a preference. I wouldn’t mind having a girl first. Tom won’t admit it, but I’m sure he’d like a boy first. When we find out, I’m sure one of us will be disappointed for about half a second and then we’ll both just be excited that we have a baby with all of the correct parts in the correct quantity.

9) What do you have against having a boy first?
Absolutely nothing. I’d just like to have at least one daughter. That’s all I want. After that, the rest can all be boys. I just need someone I can play tea party with and dress up in cute girly things… and if we have all boys, that means at least one of them will end up in therapy with gender identity issues.

10) When are you due?
March 25th is what they told me at the first doctor’s appointment. That may change. But I’m latching onto whichever date is earliest.


… to be continued …