Recovery

I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't embarrassed about just how much screen time Charlie got today before I forced him to take a nap (because that's what sick kids do, right?). I feel bad about it, but lying on the couch was probably the best place for him anyway, right? RIGHT??

 

 

So this is how I'm spending my evening, screwing around on the interwebs with a plate of freshly baked cookies. Yes, there are four of them. What's it to you?

 

 

  

One of Those Days

Yesterday we had freakishly warm temperatures, for January - 65 degrees! I decided to leave the kid at school a little bit longer than usual and go for a rare afternoon run. It was a pretty great 5 miles, minus the 20MPH winds. Sustained. Coming down one long stretch of flat road, it felt like I was moving my legs and going absolutely nowhere.

The storms rolled in around 10:00 last night, wind and torrential downpour - and then the thunder started around midnight, and Charlie was up for good. I decided to let him sleep in my room, since it was clear that neither one of us was going to get any sleep.

6 and a half restless hours later, we were all packed up in the car ready to head out to school and work.  I had even made it out of the house early enough to get gas AND Dunkin - all I could think about was an iced caramel latte and a chocolate cream filled donut.

I turned the key in the ignition, released the parking brake, and shifted into reverse. The rear wheels had just bumped over the edge of the garage floor, when Charlie threw up all over himself. It was everywhere - inside his coat, down his front, covering his lap - so back inside we went. I tried not to gag as I peeled his puke-covered clothes off and threw them in the washer. I wiped down the car seat straps, but they're going to need a better cleaning. I HATE puke. It's my least favorite thing.

Long days at home like today make me regret cancelling cable. There's only so much I can tolerate on Netflix. I think this afternoon calls for a Muppet movie!

24 Weeks - Cantelope

I'm really good at mixing up cantelopes and honeydews. I can never remember which one is which and I've been known to call them by the wrong name in professional company. I like the green one better. Whichever that is.

How far along: 24 weeks - technically this is Viability Week - the week where a baby born at this point has a chance surviving outside of the womb.

Total weight gain: Depends on the day and the water weight. 15ish pounds.

Stretch marks: I'm pretty sure they're starting to appear - but not on my belly, on my butt. Thanks, running.

Sleep: Still feeling icky, waking up in the middle of the night with a nose full of snot is rather unpleasant. So, no.

Exercise: Running, P90X, Kettlebells, yoga. Mini redemption run on Saturday!

Movement: All night long. I think she's gone from breech to head-down and back to breech again. It's hard to discern what parts are doing the poking. Charlie is super excited about his sister, but has pretty much zero interest in feeling her kicking at him. I don't blame him, given his level of understanding about how she got there and how she'll get out.

Food cravings: The chocolate craving has finally kicked in.

Happy or moody most of the time: Doing my best to keep the anxiety at bay.

Looking forward to: Organizing things in drawers and closets. I also found a pattern for a ring sling that I'm planning to try, so I'm pretty excited about that.

Pregnancy Irony

Packing up my running gear for tomorrow (65 degrees? Hell yes to a post-work run!) WHILE eating Ben and Jerry's. Now that's good eats.

 

 

Even better? Brownie ChewGooder is a new flavor for me, compliments of our recently expanded Target frozen food section. There is an incredible amount of caramel in this one. I highly recommend it. 

Mini Redemption

After Thursday's terrible, horrible, no good, very bad run, I let my overactive imagination get the best of me. Not that it's the first time, or anything. I started to wonder if my days of pregnant running were about to come crashing to a halt, and if I wasn't even going to make it to the Half Marathon I was planning to run in a few weeks, let alone the spring full I was hoping for. In my mind I was about to be relegated to brisk walks through the neighborhood, 15-minute miles, and cheering on the sidelines.

But then came Saturday! And while the run I had on Saturday wasn't *fast,* it was comfortable. Minus the bathroom break 6 miles in. Which is the same thing that happened to me last Saturday, resulting in a rather embarrassing mcdonald's pitstop. 10 treadmill miles, helped along by How I Met Your Mother on Netflix. 12 on the schedule for next week.

I also found a local(ish) marathon in early April, that takes place when I'm 33 weeks. If 38 weeks is just a little too close for comfort, maybe they'll be more comfortable with that. Here's to hoping!

Blah Running

I really, really hate starting a day with a crappy run. I love running early in the morning because it sets a productive and peaceful tone for the rest of the day - this was not one of those days.

This morning i had my first really bad run since i got pregnant. It's single-digit cold, so it was a treadmill morning, which I'm hoping had something to do with it. I usually get 5 miles in before work but today i didn't even make it a full 4. There was a lot of walking involved. Something was uncomfortable on my side - i don't know if it was just an "off" day, or if Baby G2 was lying in a different position, or if i was slightly dehydrated, but the cramp was awful. The worst part was that the discomfort completely went away if i ratcheted the speed down to 8-minute miles, but my lungs are apparently not thrilled with that kind of pace anymore. I'm going to have my work cut out for me when i finally get back to real training in May.

I have 10 miles scheduled for Saturday, another single-digit forecast but definitely not on the treadmill. Hoping that goes better.

I did get some Orange Leaf for lunch, that dulled the annoyance a bit.

23 Weeks - Grapefruit

Have you ever seen a 10-inch grapefruit? Yeah, me neither. Methinks that The Bump is stretching a little bit here.

How far along: 23 weeks

Total weight gain: Depends on the day and the water weight. Somewhere between 13 and 15 pounds.

Maternity clothes: I'm starting to get bored of these questions, I think it's time to go and find some new ones that are more relevant.

Stretch marks: Nope

Sleep: Thanks to this lovely cold I've gotten, the sleep has been seriously lacking.

Best moment of this week: We painted the baby's room this weekend, so that was pretty exciting.

Miss anything: Beer

Exercise: Running, P90X, Kettlebells, yoga. Had an existential running crisis on Saturday - the "no" to the marathon really threw me off and I had a moment of "why am I even bothering?" I need to get myself together and figure out a plan.

Movement: There's a Party in my Tummy!

Food cravings: I would love a hot fudge sundae. Yes, it's 10 degrees out.

Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope

Happy or moody most of the time: I think the anxiety is starting to catch up with me. I put together an OCD reading list last night to try to "fix myself" again.

Looking forward to: Putting the furniture where it goes, unpacking the baby stuff from the basement, and (maybe) trying my hand at sewing a cloth diaper.

The Pre-K View of MLK

So yesterday was a day of at-home social studies lessons - it was MLK Day, so school was closed for the holiday, plus it was the public version of the Presidential Inauguration, which was streamed live on all network channels. We did more TV watching yesterday than we have in months.

They've been doing a lot of talking about MLK at school - who he was, what he stood for, why he was/is important - but there are still plenty of questions to be asked at home and plenty of discussions to be had about him. It's very hard to explain to a 4-year-old why MLK was so important to society and to the way that the world works - we talked about it in the most basic terms of people having different colored skin, and that MLK believed that we were all the same on the inside, no matter what we looked like on the outside. Charlie has a relatively diverse classroom, so he immediately started talking about two of his friends, M and S, who are "brown," and another friend, S, who is a "different kind of brown" and he wanted to know why people thought that they couldn't be friends. So then the parenting dilemma becomes - just how much do you tell them? At four, what is the appropriate amount of information to share to impress upon him that people used to not like other people who look different from them? That they didn't used to be able to do the same things or eat at the same restaurants or go to the same schools? And do you tell him that there are still people who think that we're not all the same and therefore not all equal? When he asks why a bad guy shot MLK and whether that bad guy still exists do you really get into the absolute hatred that people had for each other? And if you do, and pretend that it was just something that happened a long, long time ago, are you then sugar-coating the world too much by not explaining that there are still bad people out there? People who still don't think that we're all equal on the inside because we all have the same parts and pieces under our skin? And that it's so important for him to know and remember that it doesn't matter what people look like on the outside, but that it's what's on the inside that counts?

And how do you tell this to someone who has no background of understanding - no knowledge of the civil rights movement, who just looks at skin color as a quirky characteristic, just like being tall or old or wearing blue pants, not as something that's grounds to judge by?

Or is it the sociologist in me way overthinking the discussion? We do still have a long way to go, as Obama himself so eloquently pointed out during his inauguration speech:

"Our journey is not complete until our wives, our mothers, and daughters can earn a living equal to their efforts. Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law – for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well. Our journey is not complete until no citizen is forced to wait for hours to exercise the right to vote. Our journey is not complete until we find a better way to welcome the striving, hopeful immigrants who still see America as a land of opportunity; until bright young students and engineers are enlisted in our workforce rather than expelled from our country. Our journey is not complete until all our children, from the streets of Detroit to the hills of Appalachia to the quiet lanes of Newtown, know that they are cared for, and cherished, and always safe from harm."

And as someone who is about to be the mom of a girl, I feel even more strongly that these issues are things that need to be talked about. We (my family) can talk about the civil rights movement from a position of (relative) privilege, having white skin and all, but I have a uterus and so does my daughter and in many circles that is still seen as a sign of inferiority.

So yeah, there's that. This is where my mind goes when I'm up late with a cold. Jealous?

If You've Ever Experienced a Toddler...

Then this needs to be on your READ IT NOW!! list.

46 Reasons Why my Three Year Old Might be Freaking Out


This just may be the funniest thing I've seen on the interwebs this year. Ok, ok, so it's only been 18 days so far, but still - I read them out loud to the husband and I was literally crying laughing the whole time. Tears running down my face.

I can't decide which ones are my favorite, but "I picked out the wrong pants," "His sleeve is touching his thumb," and "The cat won’t let him touch its eyeball" really rang true for us.

My god, I will NEVER forget the first time we encountered the horror of a broken banana. It was like the whole world had come to a crashing halt - the drama, the horror, the HUMANITY! I've written about them before - toddler tantrums are fascinating happenings. I've had to horizontally carry a shrieking child through Target and into the parking lot. This list pretty much sums up the irrationality of all of them and perfectly encapsulates the idea that you never know what's going to set them off. Can't wait to do it all over again in a few years!

The Pregnancy Stamp

There are plenty of commonly discussed pregnancy side effects - nausea, bloating, heartburn, insatiable hunger, sleepless nights, painful tailbones, round ligament pain, lightning crotch, cankles, snissing, blah blah blah. But there are also side effects that aren't as commonly talked about. My personal least favorite, which i was plagued with during my last pregnancy, is the growing of the feet. I don't mean swollen feet from fluid retention, i mean larger feet, in general.

I think it was at about this point last pregnancy that my shoes started to feel a bit tight. And i don't mean pointy dress shoes tight, these were my sneakers, my wonderful brown canvas Pumas that i loved so much. It wasn't too big of a deal, at the time - it was getting warmer out and flip flop weather was approaching, so i just switched to the rubber wonders and assumed I'd slip back into my Pumas after i got the baby out.

(The husband thought it would be a fabulous idea to start calling me Stampy and make elephant noises when i bitched about my feet - a very much unappreciated Simpsons reference. Seriously, not something to say to a pregnant woman.)

Imagine my surprise when i found myself on the verge of heading back to work after maternity leave and still unable to squeeze my feet into those shoes. I went to the shoe store and, much to my dismay, my feet had grown an entire size larger. Not so bad, right? Well maybe, except up to that point i had been able to buy my shoes from the kid department, which is how i was able to get those Pumas to begin with. Adult shoes just didn't come in those cool colors. I was a sad panda. To make myself feel better i bought an awesome pair of grey Vans, very similar to the ones i had in high school. I wore them home proudly, and then of course the husband had to point out that grey was the color of elephants. Gotta love him.

Anyway, the point is that my running shoes, which are already a half size larger than normal, are starting to feel pinchy and cramped. And it's not even summer! Do you know how painful it is to run in pinchy shoes? And do you know how freaking expensive running shoes are? So help me Flying Spaghetti Monster, if i outgrow my relatively new running shoes (and trail shoes!) I just may lose it. 18 more weeks of running, just let me get through that.

22 Weeks - Papaya

When I was little my sister and my grandmother shared a real bond over papayas. I never really got the excitement - they had papaya "candies," which I guess were the 1980s version of herbal supplements, and I thought they were pretty awful. But either way, that's what fruit we're on this week.

How far along: 22 weeks

Total weight gain: Depends on the day. I got on the scale yesterday and about died, but there were some extenuating circumstances that probably inflated things a bit. It looked much better this morning, I think maybe up 12 total?

Maternity clothes: Always

Stretch marks: Nope

Sleep: I've been up pretty much every hour. I remember last time I thought that this must be nature preparing moms to be woken up by their newborns at about the same schedule, but that doesn't make it any easier to deal with. On the bright side, I'm already wide awake when my alarm goes off for early morning runs!

Best moment of this week: Probably the box of chocolates I mentioned yesterday. I've been pretty good at rationing them, but others have been picking at them, too.

Miss anything: Beer

Exercise: Running, P90X, Kettlebells. Still sad about the "no" on the marathon, but considering revisiting the topic with the doctor a few months down the road. Finally brought Yoga back into my routine with a prenatal session in my living room yesterday morning. I forgot how much I enjoy Yoga.

Movement: There's a Party in my Tummy!

Food cravings: Chocolate of all sorts. Watermelon, which is a problem because it's obviously not in season.

Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope

Happy or moody most of the time: It depends. Work is busy (which is good), so that keeps me on a more even keel, I think. Also talked to the OB about keeping an eye out for symptoms of worsening OCD toward the end of the pregnancy and the potential for post-partum anxiety issues cropping up. Hope for the best, plan for the worst, right?

Looking forward to: Cleaning, painting, and organizing. Whee!

22 Week Appointment

So I got a "not a good idea" in regards to running a full marathon at 38 weeks. I'm really bummed, because i feel like i could definitely cover the distance, even if it's just a jog/walk. He said to stick to the Half. So two OBs and two midwives said "go ahead," but the one Big Fat No is enough to keep me away, i guess.

I was also told to lose the navel ring - in fact, he went ahead and took it out for me right then and there. Awkward! Probably not a good look for a 30-something year old with two kids, anyway.

They sent me home with the fabulous glucose test drink - fruit punch, this time. Sweeeeeeeet. Literally ;)

But it wasn't all bad, my co-workers brought me this lovely box of candy after our lunch outing. Chocolate makes everything better!

Too Much Time in Jersey

You know you've been in the northeast too long when you pull into the driveway after a long post-Christmas drive and your 4-year-old wakes up from his hours-long nap, looks around, and says "Oh no, it fucking snowed here, too."

He's definitely my kid.

21 Weeks - Pomegranate

These fruits always make me hungry! Pomegranate is another one of my favorites, but I rarely eat them because they're such a pain in the ass to deal with. C's aunt made a delicious citrus salad for Christmas brunch - oranges, grapefruit, blueberries, and tons and tons of pomegranate seeds. It was amazing. I was really excited when Chobani released their pomegranate yogurt last year, but I actually don't care for it. The seeds give it a weird texture. I like chunks in my yogurt, but not crunch. Anyway.

 

 

 

How far along: 21 weeks

Total weight gain: I think it's still that same 10 pounds

Maternity clothes: Finally broke down and bought two maternity skirts. In the end, it's a good thing that I waited because they were marked down to $25 and then rang up as $15. Score!

Stretch marks: Nope

Sleep: Just the terrible, horrible, no good very bad dreams and the insane discomfort

Best moment of this week: Enjoying the Cannoli that my mom brought me back from NYC.

Miss anything: Beer

Exercise: Running, P90X, Kettlebells. I took the support belt out on Saturday's 11-miler and I think it helped a lot. Hopefully that will keep me running for the next 19 weeks!

Movement: Every night now, always in the same place. Thank you, anterior placenta.

Food cravings: Almond butter and jelly sandwiches. Yum!

Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope

Happy or moody most of the time: Well, I was called the "health and fitness police" on one of my mom boards last week, because I responded to an ad about diet pills with some (factual!) information on how the company had gotten into trouble for marketing an energy drink to 4 and 5 year old kids. I didn't take that very well and by the end of the discussion "health and fitness police" had turned into "bitch," so... I guess it depends on perspective. For the record, it was only two or three people who thought I should have kept my mouth shut.

Looking forward to: Painting the room and getting organized. I had one plan but now I'm thinking of going in a different (but very similar!) direction after seeing some pictures of a friend's nursery. I guess it depends on whether I'm willing to steal some ideas or not. I'd also like to finally decide on a name. Well, more accurately - I'd like to agree on a name. I'm decided :)



Pregnancy Sleep

Or lack, thereof...

I remember long nights of tossing and turning and unpleasant dreaming and severe discomfort from last time. I don't remember it starting this early, though. It's been a good 2-3 weeks wince I've gotten a full, restful night of sleep.

Part of the issue is that I'm just not cut out to be a side sleeper. I'm much more comfortable on my back, but of course at this point 10 minutes laying on my back is enough to feel like I'm suffocating. So onto the side, it is. Left side, to be specific, thanks to the recommendations from the American Pregnancy peeps and all of the OB\CNMs I've ever seen. I build a wall out of pillows every night to keep myself propped up so that I can almost trick my body into thinking that I'm laying on my back. Two hard pillows jammed into my side, one pillow between my knees, and another one under the belly. That's usually enough to get the sleep started.

Still no rest, though, thanks to the hormone-induced incredibly vivid and disturbing dreams. This weekend - we lost Charlie in some weird sand tunnel maze in the rainforest, someone broke into our basement, my aunt and I won the $200 million lottery but someone stole the Ace of Clubs that was the "winning card," we celebrated my birthday in a flying machine that took us underwater and greatly upset Dwight from The Office because we stole his invention, I stayed in some bizarre old-fashioned hotel with no elevators, oh, and a brief unexplained appearance by Charlie Sheen. The real-ness of the pregnancy dreams is incredible - I wake up in the middle of the night completely disoriented and unsure whether those things actually happened or not. I could feel my chest tightening and the panic rising when we "lost" the kid and I was totally elated when we won the lottery.

Plus, baby girl has grown larger and the power of her punches has increased. Since she's laying in a v-shape, I can feel the kicks and punches on both sides simultaneously, which is both really cool and really disturbing, plus really difficult to sleep through.

Not only that, but I managed to sleep with my ear folded down and that hurts like a sonofabitch when you unfold it. Also, my elbows hurt in the mornings because I sleep on top of my bent arm and then I can't straighten them. I try to change positions in between freaky ass dreams, and it's like a monumental feat of strength. How can I go out and run 11 miles in the morning and then get so out of breath trying to roll over at night? It's mind-boggling.

I feel like an old lady. I don't know if it's because I'm bigger, faster this time or if it's because I'm 5 years older, but either way it sucks ass. I'm tired, which accentuates my crankiness, and I know that the worst hasn't even come yet. Whee!

I guess the bright side of all this is that I'm usually already awake when the alarm goes off for early morning runs.

The Anatomy Scan

So the "Big Ultrasound" that most women talk about with great anticipation comes around the 20 week mark. Yes, it's exciting because that's when you can find out what brand of baby you're having (sex guesses up until week 16 or so tend to be just that - guesses), but the real point of the ultrasound is to take a look at all of the major organs and see how things are developing.

I'm on my third OB of this pregnancy, but more about that later. The sonographer was really great about telling us exactly what she was looking at and how things were going - we don't have the 100% all clear from the OB, himself, yet, but I have no reason to believe that anything looked out of the ordinary as she said up front that if there was a problem she would get the doctor. So we got to see the heart and the kidneys and the brain and all of that important stuff. I made sure to count both hands and feet, since I had a moment of panic last time around because I couldn't remember actually seeing both feet and I was convinced that my baby would be born with only one. Because that's totally rational. I think that was pre-Zol.oft.

Baby was bouncing around but cooperated nicely so that we got all of the measurements in one shot. Unfortunately, she kept moving around to face the camera so we didn't get any profile pictures. I'm not one of those "Oh my baby is soooooooooo cuuuuuuuuuute in utero" people, and the pictures that we did get look positively alienlike. We showed them to Charlie and he wasn't quite sure what to make of them.

I also learned that I have an anterior placenta, which is why I haven't been feeling much movement. The placenta is hanging out up top and in front instead of in back, so it's muffling the feel of baby. Baby is still a girl, and she's butt down right now. I know it's really, really early and that babies change position all the time, but I'm already finding the anxiety creeping up that she's going to end up breech and I'll have to have a c-section. I plan to avoid that at all costs (again, the OB story will come soon) and have already found some good yoga positioning moves and some exercises that supposedly encourage babies to take the proper, head-down position. That's the one downside about the anterior placenta - if she does keep sitting upside-down, there isn't any really good way to try to flip her around because the placenta is in the way. I'm trying to put that all out of my mind for at least another 8 weeks, but you know how I am. Not going to happen.

The other big development is that I'm meeting with a potential birth assistant next week. I never thought a natural birth would ever be something that I was interested in, but after doing some reading and thinking I've decided to give it a try. We'll see what she has to say!

Finally, a belated Hump Day Bump Day pic. I really need to get better at taking pictures - we were so religious about taking one every weekend. I guess the second baby really does get the short end of the stick.

20 Weeks - Banana

So with all of the excitement of the holidays I managed to completely skip over Sweet Potato and Mango weeks. This week marks the halfway point - it's freaking flying by this time around! I feel like such a slacker, I was so into reading pregnancy books and taking weekly bump pics last time and now I'm lucky if I get a blurry shot in the bathroom mirror. I guess second babies really do get the short end of the stick - I was lucky to be a firstborn :)

 

How far along: 20 weeks

Total weight gain: Pretty sure it's exactly 10 pounds, which puts me on track for 30. Recommended range for my starting weight is 25-35. Christmas cookies didn't help, nor did the incredible amount of pizza and calzone I ate for dinner in New Jersey and New York. But it was totally, totally worth it.

Maternity clothes: Still shoving my ass into my pre-pregnancy skirts, as none of the pants I borrowed fit well.

Stretch marks: Nope

Sleep: I always sleep horribly when I'm away from home, so that was no surprise. I did manage to sleep in until 8 almost every morning when we got back home, which was lovely. Shockingly, I made it up until midnight on NYE! I did set my alarm for 11:55 just in case because my eyes kept drooping shut, but I saw the ball drop. I've never missed it!

Best moment of this week: Finally feeling a kick from the outside! Tried to get Charlie to feel, but of course she stopped when he put his hand under mine.

Miss anything: My flat belly. I know it's for a good reason, but I miss feeling cute. And it's just going to get worse :)

Exercise: Running, P90X, added the Kettlebells back in to the mix - I broke down and bought a maternity support belt hoping that it will help me keep running longer. I also made an interesting treadmill discovery - my ligaments only hurt when I set it at 10 minute miles, which is slow for me. I thought I was doing myself a favor by slowing the pace down, but when I went back to 9 minute miles all of the pain went away. It's still slower than before, but at least I don't feel like an elephant stomping around in the basement.

Movement: Yes, but not consistently

Food cravings: Sweet and salty things

Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope, I'm all good now

Happy or moody most of the time: I'm still pretty cranky. My poor husband made the mistake of suggesting that we just leave the baby room painted beige. I strongly disagreed. (Hi Pookie, it's going to look GREAT in purple! Promise!)

Looking forward to: We have our "big ultrasound" today - the one where they check to make sure that all of the pieces are present and in the right places and that all major systems are operating as expected. I vacillate between being really excited to see the bean again and nearly puking from anxiety because I'm afraid of bad news. Also kind of apprehensive that the MT21 and early sex guess we got were wrong and that we're going to find out that we're really having a boy. I'm still too scared to paint!