blinding me with science

Last year I did this and it said that Jack looked more like Chris. Lately everyone has been telling me that Jack looks exactly like me and I still think he looks a lot like his papa so I decided to let science decide.....

MyHeritage: Family trees - Genealogy - Celebs - Collage - Morph

And that settles it!

time keeps on ticking

Since Jack is 3 weeks old today, I put together some pictures from weeks 1-2-3.

Because I spend every minute of every day with him, I notice so many little things that are different about him already. Like how his ears are already almost double their original size, or how when I hold him across my body to feed him, his feet are already beginning to go around my side because he is so tall. And his feet that were so wrinkled up and tiny now look like real feet with chubby little toes that I want to sprinkle with cinnamon and gobble up.

Some days I can swear I feel the difference in his weight, and the way he eats sometimes(like today: All. The. Time.) I swear he puts on multiple ounces an hour.

Sometimes I just want to fold him up and put him in my pocket and keep him this size forever and sometimes I think about how nice it will be when he really smiles at me for the first time, or says Mommy and Daddy and crawls and walks and Runs. His first Little League game, first date, first Prom.

But for now, he's just this long-legged little eating machine who poops and cries and smiles in his sleep. And I love him so much it makes my heart hurt and my eyes tear.

Happy 3 Week Birthday Little Man! Don't grow up too fast!

good news is a good thing

We went for our ultrasound this morning and everything went really well. They took all kinds of measurements and everything seems to be on schedule and Kumar is not small. The technician was nice enough to say that maybe I just have a small belly.

The crazy thing is that sometimes I feel like it does look small and then there are times when it feels so big I cannot stand it. (Like when I wear anything besides sweatpants and have the nerve to eat more than an apple) I guess that is normal to feel and there is nothing I can really do except try not to freak out, which is so much easier said than done some days. I just can't seem to convince myself that everything is going to turn out fine, no matter how many times the doctors tell me that everything looks normal and fine and great and whatever. I just keep waiting for the bad stuff to surface. Maybe I need to just chill out.

The estimate of his weight is 4 pounds 9 ounces which is a normal weight for 33 weeks and from what I read, he is going to put on 1/2 a pound a week from here on out, so that means if we go to term he will be around 8 pounds.
I just can't wait for him to get here so I can see him with my own eyes and then I will be able to relax and just be happy for gosh-sakes, will someone just slap me already? (gaaaahhh)

We got pictures that are semi-good and I will try to scan and upload them later.
Yay!

ugh

After much deliberation, I got a flu shot yesterday.

I never thought twice about getting a flu shot in the past. Either it was offered at the doctor's office and I got it or I didn't even think about it. My OB suggested that I get one a couple of months ago because it helps to immunize the baby for the few months after he is born when it is still flu season, (a newborn cannot get a flu shot, even though the hospital seems to load up babies with all kinds of other crazy shots in the couple of days after they are born, much to my paranoid-mother-to-be-dismay) and that sounded like it made enough sense to me, so I called my GP and asked about getting a flu shot.

This is where things started to get a little kerflunky.

Seems my GP does not believe in giving pregnant women flu shots and flat-out denied me. hmmmm... That made me think for a minute. Then, I went to a Walgreens where they offer flu shots and the NP would not give me one unless I got a note from my doctor. OK, this is when I started getting a little freaked out. So I did what anyone would do and got on my old pal Dr.google and started looking. And I found waaaay more information than I really wanted. I talked to other pregnant girls. I talked to girls who were pregnant last flu season. I asked Chewy his opinion ( he didn't really give me an answer but he did remind me of what happened when he didn't get his shots he was supposed to get. I assured him that I would not be fined by the county for not getting a flu shot, but thanks for the reminder)

After all of this, I was more confused than ever. Seems the opinions fluctuate from somewhere in the neighborhood of:
"YOU WILL GIVE YOUR BABY IRREPARABLE BRAIN DAMAGE AND/OR SCHIZOPHRENIA AND/OR AUTISM IF YOU GET THIS SHOT!"
to:
"IF YOU LOVE YOUR BABY AT ALL, YOU WILL GET THE FLU SHOT BECAUSE THE FEVER AND POTENTIAL INFECTION FROM THE FLU COULD GIVE HIM BRAIN DAMAGE AND/OR KILL HIM!" to a couple of opinions in the center of the two but enough hysteria is produced by the mere mention of a immunization that I just had to stop reading (after an hour or two and a couple of frantic phone calls to Chris and friends who already have children).

I put it off for a couple of more weeks and spoke to my OB again when I saw him this last time and he assured me that the shot if perfectly safe for me and the baby and that the chance of getting the flu late in the pregnancy and it causing some sort of complication is far greater than anything bad happening from the shot itself.

So, I found a very nice NP at the local CVS Minute Clinic , (who actually had a thimerosal-free shot specially sent from Ft. Lauderdale for me) and got it done.
The end.
And I am going to just not worry about it anymore. Because all this motherhood worrying stuff is exhausting.
Now I need some brownies.

the good the bad and the frustrating

This past Sunday, I (finally) did my first maternity job! It was for a British catalogue called Mothercare and the client and crew were very British and nice and we shot on this beach:

The weather was really nice, not too hot with a nice breeze which, as the day went on got to be more of a serious wind and by the time we finished for the day, I was exhausted but not as much as I thought I would be after spending a 9 hour day on my feet while 7 months pregnant, so I guess I am not in as bad shape as I had feared.

I am still trying not to let myself go completely, walking Chewy 30-40 minutes a day and swimming 2-3 times a week, doing (at least part of) my yoga DVD every day and lately I have been stretching before bed because I think it helps with the back and hip soreness. I did finally admit defeat and freeze my gym membership today because I haven't darkened their doorway in at least a month (OK, maybe 2 months) and I just can't see myself getting on the elliptical machine again until this kid is on the outside because it is exhausting just thinking about it.

I have been reading about how pregnant women should get a flu shot and had planned on getting one before I get on a plane this weekend because for some reason I always equate flying with getting sick. My OB told me that they do not do them there and I should call my regular doctor but when I called them, they told me that they do not give flu shots to pregnant women so THEN I went to a drug-store chain that offers them but they would not do it without a note from my doctor so after all of that, I began wondering why it is so hard for a pregnant girl to get this stupid shot and decided to come home and google the situation.

WELL!

Now I am more confused than ever because there are so many conflicting opinions about this and I'm thinking that I may just not get it right now and talk to my OB about it again when I see him the day after I return from my trip. It feels like I am doing the wrong thing no matter what I do because these websites are either all:

"You will give your baby autism and/or schizophrenia if you get the flu shot while pregnant"

OR

"You will damage your baby's brain if you get the flu and run a high fever while pregnant"

so I can't decide which is a worse fate for this poor little guy.... Autism, schizophrenia, or just straight up brain damage. Such a hard decision for a mom to make that I don't want to just jump into a decision. Is there any place I can sign up for none of the above? Please??

I think I need to have a brownie (or 4) and think on it. Brownies have almost no side effects except enormous thighs and, well, I can totally live with that right now.

snakes and snails and puppy dog tails

I just got back from the doctor and it went really well. First, I found out that I passed the glucose tolerance test with flying colors (passing is anything below 130 and I got 89!) so that was a huge relief. In celebration, I came home and ate another piece of pumpkin pie. There is nothing better in the world than pumpkin pie.

As promised, I got the ultrasound and I don't know where this came from, but Kumar is a shy little guy. It took some real cajoling to get him to give up the goods, and the situation was not helped by the fact that he is breech so his legs are all squished up in the smallest part of my pelvis but eventually the doctor saw something and froze it and showed it to me.

I see now why they don't do many ultrasounds at this point because it really is not easy to see everything because he is big and squished up in there so you can really only see him in segments. First the head (the back of his head, thanks for your cooperation, Kumar) the "thorax" (in my experience, the thorax is something on a bug. I have never heard of the human torso being called the thorax but that is what the Dr said and i found it really amusing) then the lower parts but, besides the squished-up legs, his back was turned and he refused to turn around so we were only able to see the "beans" from behind. The doctor said that he definitely is a boy though and from what I saw, I am willing to agree with him. Yippee!!!

It was so nice to see him and I was secretly kind of happy that it took so long because I got to see him for a good 10 minutes and I kept thinking this may well be the last time I see him before he is born. Unless I can get Chris to agree to getting the 3D ultrasound but he thinks it is "creepy" and we should just "leave him alone in there".

Harrumph!

i'll take sharks and jellyfish any day

In my sickness, I stumbled across this video. I would like some input as to what the heck this thing is.

Anyone? Anyone?

cue the dr. who theme song

I am not a person who really reads about new, scientific things that come out but this is a huge (literally) story. There are actually people running around saying this could end the world.

Me? I'm off to find an old British phone booth in which to time-travel.

You can read about it here.