18w4d: OB Appointment

Our OB appointment was this afternoon. I went by myself because today was the day that B was to receive her results from the California Bar, she was crazy stressed out and had a lot of work on her plate. The appointment was uneventful.

– We found Ninja’s heartbeat with the doppler (first time I’ve heard it with the exception of my last ultrasound at the specialist’s office) and he was moving around like a crazy person, just like his big brother.

– We discussed my weight and the fact that I’ve only gained 12 pounds so far. That’s in stark contrast to the 25+ pounds I had gained by this point in my pregnancy with S.

– We discussed that I went from a prenatal with no iron (the Vita Gummies have ZERO iron in them, Mommies – watch out) to a prenatal with prenatal amounts of iron and am therefore constipated.

– We discussed the fact that I can call the office in two weeks to officially get my c-section date and time AND that I’m allowed to push for a certain date, if it’s within the right range.

But what was more important was the realization that our big structural ultrasound is in less than two weeks. Thanksgiving is next week. We’ll have a date and time to put in our calendars soon for the birth of our kid. After Thanksgiving comes Hanukkah. After Hanukkah comes Christmas. At Christmastime comes two consecutive weeks of house guests, the latter falls over the New Year celebration. After those two weeks comes a trip back to Chicago for our nephew’s Bar Mitzvah. After that comes my birthday. Then comes a visit from a friend. Then it’s spring break and we have family in town to help celebrate S’s third birthday.

And then we’ll have another kid. Whoa.

17w4d: I’m small?

When I tell you that the world must’ve thought I was just fat, I’m not joking. In the past week I’ve had at least four or five people come up to me, all of whom have seen me five times a week since early September, and the conversation has gone something like this:

Them: “Oh my GOD! I didn’t know you were pregnant! You look SO cute! How far are you?”

Me: “4.5 months.”

Them: “You’re TINY!”

When I was pregnant with S, I never heard that phrase. The word tiny was never said to me unless it was referring to what I was prepregnancy.

And to think…Today I was wearing non-maternity pants. Buttoned. Yes, they’re a bigger size than I was previously wearing but they’re not maternity pants.

I earn a gold star for this.

16w4d: Dizzy, dizzy.

S woke up at 5:30am screaming for me. The minute I heard him, I opened up my eyes and realized that I was dizzy. Very dizzy. I’m not sure if I had been laying on my back or what, but when I got up to go I to his room I couldn’t walk in a straight line. I was nervous to go get him but had no other choice. We sat in his rocking chair for awhile and then ended up in our bed, where I continued to be dizzy for a bit.

Something has got to be pressing on something in there.

The dizziness continued until I fell asleep and I was dizzy again when I woke up. That odd, yucky feeling continued until I drank my coffee from Starbucks. I haven’t had it again all day.

Thankfully I had already gone out and bought one of those pregnancy pillows (I left it in my car last night) which I will be using tonight to keep me off of my back. I’ll make sure to let you know what I’ve named her. 🙂

16w2d: Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween, folks. It’s my favorite holiday of the year.

Four months and two days pregnant. This is flying by. The fact that our next pregnancy milestone is the halfway there point is crazy to me. We find out when our c-section is going to be in less than four weeks. We have our big second level ultrasound in less than four weeks. Hell – Thanksgiving is in less than four weeks!!!

I’ve been a gym member for nine days and so far I’ve actually worked out 6 of ’em. I’ve developed a routine…30 minutes of cardio on either the recumbent or upright stationary bike, raising my RPM’s every ten minutes (first 10 minutes in between 70-80, second 10 in between 80-90 and final 10 in between 90-100). Then I run to the bathroom to pee (because that’s what happens when you’re pregnant and you use the recumbent bike), and then I head upstairs for some weights. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays I work on my back, shoulders and biceps. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I work on my triceps, chest and a little bit of legs/glutes. I know it may sound silly, but watching my biceps get bigger at the same time as my tummy makes me feel better about myself…especially seeing as how taking so many months off of working out destroyed my muscle mass. Oy.

The amazing part about all of this is the fact that in just one week, it’s taking much more intensity to bring my heart rate up to 140. I usually don’t go anywhere above 135 on the bike until I’m consistently spinning at 87+ RPMs or during my lifting.

On a totally different note, we’re ordering S’s big boy furniture soon because I’m having a hard time getting him into and out of his crib with this belly. I’m also having a much harder time lifting him in general. Switching him into his big boy furniture means starting to get the nursery ready. We’re officially at the point where we’re beginning to think about it, although we won’t actually set the room up until we’re about 7 months along.

And, on top of that, S is LOVING preschool these days. Long gone are the days of crying and refusing to leave the house, clinging to me in the classroom and screaming bloody murder when I’d leave. Instead we’re excited to go to school in the morning and when we get to his classroom, he says, “Mama, I give you a hug and a kiss and then I see you after lunch.” The next hurdle to overcome is potty training, which I’d really like to do before Baby Ninja makes his grand debut….That’ll be interesting.

15w2d: Sweat is sexy.

Day 1 at the gym while preggo was great. I loved every second of being there and felt amazing when I left. I swear on a bag of Snickers bars (which I’m loving right now) that working out while pregnant gives you more of an adrenaline rush than when you’re not.

7 miles on the recumbent bike. Heart rate never exceeded 132. While I felt bad that I was bouncing Baby Ninja all over the place thanks to my upper thighs hitting my lower belly, I knew that what I was doing was good for him in the long run. When I hopped off of the thing and grabbed my stuff, the look of shock on people’s faces when they saw my belly was priceless.

Then I went upstairs to the weights area and worked on my biceps a bit. I was the only chick up there using free weights and I definitely made a few guys stop what they were doing when they realized that a pregnant chick was curling 10 pounds less than they were. Suckers.

I’m going to put together my full strength training program and begin it next week, but it felt damn good to be back.

15w1d: Crunch time.

I joined a gym today here in LA and I am very, very excited about it. The wife finally agreed to let me join a gym because I need low impact cardio machines, which we don’t have at our house.

I was a proud gym member in Chicago before we moved and absolutely loved my gym. There’s something about actually having a membership somewhere that motivates me and keeps me insanely accountable…not to mention the actual smell of a gym gets me going. I really enjoy being there, putting my effort into something, and feeling like I accomplished something for the day. This would explain why I’m so excited.

I’ve been researching safe strength training for expectant Mamas online and I’ve basically come to terms with the fact that here are the dont’s:

– Do not lift anything over 25 pounds.
– No ab work on my back.
– Try to avoid anything that causes spinal compression such as shoulder presses, but if you must do them, do ’em with a light weight.
– Keep your heart rate under 140.

Mmmmm k. So basically I can go on with my life as usual with some lighter weights, not as much intensity and without some of my favorite ab exercises.

It’s time to do this. First gym day? Tomorrow.

14w4d: Size matters.

From my first OB appointment in September to this one yesterday, 4 weeks later, I had only gained 1.8 pounds. This is a really huge accomplishment…if you forget the fact that I was violently ill last weekend.

I know I’ve mentioned my weight gain when I was pregnant with S, but I’ll get a bit more into detail for you. From pre-pregnancy to the morning of my c-section, I had gained 96 pounds. 30 pounds of that weight gain was from fertility medications taken during three failed IUI cycles and then the fresh IVF cycle that resulted in S. I was 150 pounds at the time that we found out that we were pregnant with him and 216 the morning of my c-section. Yes, I had an almost 10 pound baby. I get that. But I gained a lot, a lot, a lot of weight.

Over two hundred fucking pounds. Pardon my potty mouth. That’s a lot of weight.

This go around I promised myself that I was going to try and do everything in my power to prevent that from happening again and thankfully, due to not having a huge appetite and first trimester nausea, it’s been somewhat easy. I’m eating on the same schedule as I would if I weren’t pregnant and I’m just adding in some extra calories during those meals. Even without trying, I’m WAY more active this pregnancy (I was completely sedentary during the last) just by virtue of having to walk up and down hills and a few blocks to drop S off at preschool.

So far I’ve gained a grand total of 3 pounds from the fertility meds – 138 pre-medication to 141 when we found out that we were pregnant. As of today I’m at 149 pounds, which is an eight pound weight gain in about 3.75 months of pregnancy. I know that 8 pounds is more than recommended and more than normal, but this is awesome for me. At this point in my pregnancy with SugarButt, I was about 165 pounds. That’s a 16 pound difference.

My goal this time around was to gain no more than 50 pounds in total, which is still a massive amount to gain while pregnant. I’ve gained 11 pounds of the 50 thus far and I’ll be 4 months pregnant on Monday. If I’m careful and start going to the gym, I don’t think I’ll gain it all…and I’ll be super happy.

14w3d: Hiccups, puking and some kicks.

It’s been a week since I updated everyone on my super exciting life. Ready?

S woke up at 12:00am Friday morning projectile vomiting all over his room. This went on until 2:00am, at which time we had changed him into his last pair of clean pajamas and I had finally gotten him back into his crib. Instead of going back into my room, however, I spent the rest of my morning until 8:00am laying on the hardwood floor of his room holding his little hand through the bars of his crib. Friday we stayed home and he clung to me like a little monkey throughout the entire day.

Saturday we drove two hours away to help B’s Mom and sister clean out her Grandfather’s house. While I was immersed in that fun task, I received a voicemail from the therapist I had seen two weeks prior for my perinatal depression. She called to let me know that she had to reschedule our appointment that was scheduled for Monday because she miscarried. She was almost three weeks ahead of me in her pregnancy – so she miscarried at about 17 weeks. It overturned my stomach, my heart was in my throat and I didn’t know how to react. Needless to say, I had to be calmed down a bit from personalizing it too much…and I had to make the tough decision to not see her anymore and find someone else. Aside from the fact that she does not take our insurance, I know that I won’t feel comfortable discussing my constant miscarriage paranoia with someone who just went through it weeks before and who was further along than we were when it happened. Ugh.

Saturday night we went to a nice dinner as adults and I indulged myself. At 1:00am Sunday morning I woke up not feeling well. I spent the next seven hours either sitting upon or hunched over the toilet. Then I spent half of Sunday in the fetal position in a bed. I drove us the two hours home and immediately crawled into our bed for the rest of the night. Awful. This whole situation was slightly funny to me, as I had food poisoning at 36 weeks pregnant with S. I ended up admitted into labor and delivery for three days because the throwing up started to put me into labor.

Monday sucked. I had zero energy and felt like someone whooped my ass.

Tuesday was nothing to discuss.

Yesterday I went and got a haircut and my eyebrows waxed. This is only a huge deal because I finally did something for me. Something other than fueling my Starbucks addiction. Something completely, 100% utterly selfish. It was amazing.

And today we had our OB appointment. She scanned us solely because of my stomach flu issue and I was so excited to see Baby Ninja. He had the hiccups and it was one of the cutest things of all time, on top of the fact that he loves having his hands by his face. She said that he looked wonderful…and big.

Next OB appointment is in 4 weeks. In 1.5 weeks after that, we will be able to schedule our c-section and receive an official date and time for it. In 1 week after THAT is our big structural ultrasound.

…and, I’m feeling Baby Ninja kicking already. For those of you who have been pregnant before, it’s that irritating bubble pop/popcorn feeling that’s funny and uncomfortable at the same time. He usually kicks (or hits) low and to the side, although its super pronounced when I’m sitting down. This was super early for me to feel anything, but I’m not surprised thanks to my destroyed lower abs from my prior c-section.

Oy.

13w3d: It’s public!

Everyone, I’m proud to say that our pregnancy has gone public as of today. I can come out of the shadows on National Coming Out Day. Ready?

My name is Gen. I’m S’s Mama and B’s wife. I’m also the proud Mama to Baby Ninja, the healthy and happy little boy that we saw today at our first trimester screening. There is no doubt whatsoever that we’re having a boy. Coming straight out of our fetal specialist’s mouth, “That is definitely not a girl.”

I mean, a scrotum is a scrotum. So unless this kid is a hermaphrodite, there’s a big penis and a big scrotum in there.

And Baby Ninja is a big boy already – surprise surprise. S was 9.5 pounds at 39 weeks. This child is already measuring three days ahead of schedule. He had a heartbeat of 157 beats per minute and the sound of which was music to my ears. Baby Ninja hated the probe pressing down on my lower abdomen and flipped over every single time the specialist tried to get a good view of him. He was waving his hands around, covering his face and rubbing his tummy.

Our bloodwork for Down’s Syndrome (Trisomy 21) and Trisomy 18 came back completely, 100% negative. This baby is not at risk for either. The fluid behind his spine was nowhere near the point of concern and everything looked fabulous. Nice femur size, belly size, gigantic head…a strong, beautiful, moving baby boy.

There’s no doubt that S is going to be an amazing big brother to his little brother. No doubt. And while we’re imagining them playing with their trucks and cars together, reality is hitting us that we’re going to be Mommies to two boys. Two loving, sweet, cuddly boys who love their Mommies. Two little boys who laugh at their farts. It’s going to be wonderful.

12w6d: Feeling…Good?

Nope. I’m feeling great. I’m not sure what the change is from. I’m not sure why it came now. But what I do know is that I’m feeling pregnant, I’m feeling comfortable in my pregnancy, I’m ready to announce it, I can’t wait to see the baby on Thursday, and I’m getting my life back.

Part of  it has been the fact that I’ve been having real, honest, true “me” time. Last week I had four days where part of my morning was spent with just me. No wife, no toddler. Me. I sat and had a coffee and breakfast sandwich alone. I shopped alone. I walked down the street alone. I sat in my car and enjoyed new music alone. It invigorated me. I left picking up my son from preschool refreshed and happy. It’s wonderful.