He Says…Happy Birthday To My Honey!

Today is Kate’s birthday!

I was really hoping to throw her a big birthday bash this year, but due to our schedules and friends’ schedules it did not seem to be in the cards.  I felt sort of bad, because Kate always does the best job throwing parties for me (last year she threw a great one for my 30th birthday).  Although I think she prefers being the planner than the guest of honor.  We did manage to go out for a little pre-birthday brunch on Sunday with a few friends.  I made us all wear birthday hats too, and the waitresses sang “Happy Birthday” to Kate.  We ate more food than one should possibly consume in one setting (but Kate has a good excuse for that), and it was a fun morning outing.

Tonight we are going to go on a little “food-themed” date.  We have been watching a lot of “Man vs. Food” recently (one of my favorite shows) and seeing lots of meat, so Kate has been craving a good burger, so we are going to go to Bartley’s in Harvard Square (Kate has never been and they are supposed to have THE best burgers) for hamburgers and milkshakes.  Sounds like the perfect date to me and I am sure (I hope) that piccolini will enjoy it too!

So, happy birthday Kate.  I love YOU so much, and I love the little baby growing inside of you.  I love that I just witnessed you break into sobbing tears while reading a birthday card from your mother (she would never have done that pre-pregnancy), and I love you for how great a mom you are going to be.

Enjoy your last birthday while our little family is just you, me and Schnitzel.

Happy Birthday!

She Says… Ha!

She Says… Busy Schedules

Benjamin and I did some calendar planning over the last week. We plotted the weddings we have been invited to this summer, his work trips, and my work schedule, and what we came up with was a calendar that is pretty much booked up until June (except for a few weekends with nothing planned that I would like to keep that way!). Thank goodness for June, when I have to stay close to home (or at least not fly) just in case the little one decides to come early.

How is it that we don’t have a free weekend until almost 5 months from now?! While we are fortunate to have the ability to travel like we do, and are even more fortunate that Benjamin has enough work to keep him traveling regularly (he works freelance, so even if it’s on weekends, we like it when he works!), I do wish that we had a few more “free” weekends to enjoy at home together before the baby comes. Because I can only imagine how our weekends will change when Piccolini is here. Frankly, we’re both looking forward to having some forced downtime starting in June, and are really looking forward to the weeks and months after the baby comes to clear our schedules and concentrate entirely on our little family.

This weekend has been one of those rare weekends where neither of us had commitments, and we’ve thoroughly enjoyed spending the time together. Yesterday we went to the gym, spent a leisurely afternoon grocery shopping at Whole Foods and made a delicious lasagna dinner together. Today we went out to brunch, walked the dog together, and I spent the afternoon baking bread and muffins for the upcoming week. How lovely! Sometimes I think I would be totally happy to never leave my house since Benjamin and I enjoy spending time together so much.

Ok, enough mushy stuff. Hope you’re all having a weekend as relaxing and satisfying as mine!

She Says… A Little Scare!

Yesterday I went to my OB for my monthly check-up. At this point there’s not a lot for them to do at the exams other than weigh me, take my blood pressure, and take a urine sample. The nurse practitioner asked me how I was feeling, if I had any questions, etc. And then, to my surprise, she pulled out the Doppler! I was very excited to hear what’s going on with the little one inside me, even though we just saw him/her in our detailed ultrasound last week.

Before she even squeezed the cold gel onto my stomach she said, “Just so you know, 14 weeks is often the hardest time to find the heartbeat. Your uterus has grown faster than your baby recently, so the heartbeat is sometimes hard to hear through the uterus. So don’t worry if it takes me a few minutes to find it.” No worries, I thought, since I had just seen the baby, inside and out, last week. She began moving the Doppler around, waiting for that beautiful whoosh-whoosh-whoosh sound. But it didn’t come. After an eternity nearly 8 minutes, she began to look a little worried. Which, understandably, made me a little uncomfortable.

I told her about how the ultrasound tech last week had to literally chase the baby around, and we joked about the little marathon runner I’m growing inside of me. I giggled and practiced my yoga breathing and pretended like I wasn’t worried. But I was beginning to get a little worried. So then she said, “Well, how about I pull in the ultrasound machine so we can take a look?”. Score! I thought. Another ultrasound! At this point I really wanted some confirmation that Piccolini was doing ok in there, so I happily agreed. Then (this is the nurse practitioner who I see every other week, remember, not the actual OB) she said, “I’m not a trained ultrasound technician, so I’ll do my best. I know you’d like to see the baby at this point and I don’t want you to leave worried.” It seemed like she was more worried than I was, which made me worry a bit more!

She pulled in the ultrasound machine and began poking and prodding. I couldn’t really see the screen that well, but it certainly didn’t look like the little doll baby from our last ultrasound. The only angle she could get was a cross-section right through the baby’s stomach, so the whole baby just looked like a circle. I couldn’t really see arms or legs moving around, and my heart rate quickened. She kept saying, “There, there it is. I see it. Everything’s fine.” But I couldn’t see anything! I’m sure she could tell I was not giggling anymore at this point, and so she called in a doctor who is a trained ultrasound tech to put my mind at ease. After more poking and prodding by that doctor, the baby came into view, arms and legs flailing.

Phew! Crisis averted. The heartbeat was there all along. Our baby is either a little joker, totally camera shy, or just very, very acrobatic.

He Says…14 Weeks

Dearest Piccolini,

Wow, I cannot believe that you are 14 weeks old today.  We are getting closer and closer to halfway until your birthday, and I couldn’t be more excited.  I know you are getting way more time to get to know your momma right now, but I am here and still care for you so much.  I am really looking forward when you get bigger in your momma’s tummy and I can start to see you move.  I think that is when I will REALLY know you are there and I can start to connect more with you.  And in a few short weeks we will probably find out whether you are a little boy or a little girl, and then we can start to call you by your REAL name (although we’re going to keep it a secret between the 3 of us….well 4, if you count your big brother Schnitzel, for now).  It was very exciting to see you in the ultrasound last week.  I cannot believe how much bigger and more developed you look since we last saw you.

This week you are about the size of a lemon.  You’re starting to produce your own blood cells and insulin and your body might be covered by a layer of downy hair called lanugo.  You can now squint, frown, grimace and even suck your thumb (which I think we saw in the ultrasound).  I can’t wait to see you do that in person, although I hope it’s mostly smiling and laughing.  This week your kidneys are starting to produce urine which you release into the amniotic fluid around you.  I guess we will get pretty used to your urine with the hundreds of diapers we will change in the first couple (few?) years of your life.

Your momma and I are so excited for your arrival but are also cherishing this early phase of your life.  It’s really a miracle that you exist, and I know we will always love you more than I can possibly imagine.

Have a great week!  I love you.

Your Dad

She Says… My, How You’ve Grown

A few days ago Benjamin and I had the first part of a serial sequential test done for some common (and very scary) birth defects, like Down Syndrome. The serial sequential consists of two days of testing. At 12-13 weeks, you have a detailed ultrasound to measure the fold of the baby’s neck and some bloodwork is done. Then, in week 15, you have more bloodwork done. Somehow, between those three tests, the doctors can come up with a 95% accurate statistic for how likely your baby is to be born with any of  number of chromosomal abnormalities and birth defects. Pretty amazing what modern science can do, eh?

As I said before, I’m not terribly concerned about the outcome of these tests (since I am so young and neither Benjamin nor I have any of these defects in our families), but the tests gave us the opportunity to have an extra ultrasound done to get a peek inside. And they’re covered by my insurance, so we felt like it was a win-win. Also, just on the very off chance that the doctors find something to worry about, I’d like to know sooner rather than later so that I can prepare myself as much as possible for what will be.

The ultrasound was SO FUN. We were sent to a special ultrasound specialist, since the ultrasound equipment at my regular OB’s office isn’t detailed enough for this kind of examination. We arrived right on time, and I had spent the previous hour hydrating since I had to have a full bladder when they did the ultrasound. So, understandly, I was a bit peeved when the receptionist said that they were running 30 minutes behind schedule and I would have to wait. My face must have read, “PANIC!”, because she quickly said, “You can go to the bathroom if you’d like and immediately start drinking again.” Phew, crisis averted. That’s just what I did. And my bladder was good and full by the time the doctor saw us. Which was good for the ultrasound but bad for me during the exam!

Little Piccolini was swimming around like a fish. The doctor could barely catch him/her. He covered my whole stomach in gel (warmed! how nice!) and had to run the ultrasound thing from all the way down by my pelvis to all the way up the top of my ribs. I honestly don’t understand how the baby could have been all of those places, but it was pretty hilarious watching the doc try to follow the baby as he/she swam all around. Once the doc caught the little fish, we could see everything. Both sides of the brain, spinal cord, arms, legs, hands, feet, even a little bump of a nose on his/her profile. And the perfect little heart beating away. Totally, totally amazing.

There’s just no other way to describe it. We were in awe. Piccolini is, by far, the most incredible thing Benjamin and I have ever created.

She Says… Chicago Re-cap

Our Chicago trip was great! It definitely felt like a mini-vacation instead of the work trip that it was. Benjamin and I ate lovely meals (especially at Avec, totally delicious and so unique!), stayed in a very cute hotel (Hotel Allegro), and all of our travels went very, very smoothly.

After I posted that we were in Chicago, one of my readers and very dear blog-friends, Such a Good Egg, and I started emailing, since she lives and works in Chicago too. As it turned out, her office was only a few minutes away from the office where I was working, and we were able to meet up for a drink (seltzer with cranberry and a lime for me, thankyouverymuch) on Thursday night. She is fantastic! One drink could have easily turned into 5 or 6… we had so much to talk about. Our struggles with infertility started out almost exactly the same way just shy of a year ago and we quickly began a web-based friendship based on the emotional roller coaster of the process. While we are in different places in our journey now (she is, unfortunately, still fighting the good fight), our little chat over drinks was such a nice opportunity to really connect with someone who I know really “gets” it all. She is, without a doubt, a good egg. I wish she lived closer so we could hang out more often!

It was so great meeting her that I am inspired to try to meet more of you. If you’re in the Boston area, give me a shout! I’d love to meet you.

She Says… The Windy City

We are in Chicago!

I am running a training in my company’s Chicago office today and tomorrow, and Benjamin was able to tag along with me on the trip. We’re trying to make it feel more like a mini-vacay than a work trip, and so far we’re succeeding! We had an only slightly delayed flight yesterday afternoon (which is really the most you can hope for when flying into Chicago, right?), a yummy dinner last night (albeit late, so I was a little hangry), and really enjoyed our king-sized bed last night. I love staying in hotels. This morning we had a quick breakfast together before I made my way to the office, and Benjamin has the day to explore the city.

I only wish we were going to be here long enough to meet up with some of our readers/blog friends who I know live nearby. But alas, we have to leave tomorrow right after my training is over. Maybe next time, Chicagoans!

Once we’re home sweet home again I will post some pictures from our exciting ultrasound yesterday. In short… it was awesome! We saw Piccolini swimming all around and got to see the clearest picture yet of his/her little face. More to come on that later. In the meantime, it’s back to work for this girl.

She Says… 13 Weeks

Sweet little Piccolini,

This week we enter the 2nd trimester. Already I feel like a million bucks. My energy is back, my food aversions are gone (hello, salads, I’ve missed you!), my pimples have cleared up and I feel that elusive pregnancy “glow”. Also, I’ve officially graduated into maternity clothes, which is a pretty exciting change as well. Since I’ve been feeling like my pre-pregnancy self again, I haven’t been feeling that pregnant (aside from my expanding belly), so it makes me wonder if you’re still doing ok in there. I’m sure you are, but give me a little sign now and then, ok? In a few weeks I will be able to feel you moving around, so I’m sure that will alleviate my fears.

In a few hours your dad and I are heading to a special doctor’s office to get a super-detailed ultrasound done. It is the first part of a sequential test that will give us information about how likely you are to be born with Down Syndrome. I am not really worried about the outcome of the tests (the likelihood of a woman my age having a baby with Down Syndrome is 1 in 1,300), I am just excited to get another picture of you as you grow! So get yourself all prettied up, you’re about to be on display.

You, my little one, are nearly 3 inches, the size of a peach, this week. Your teeth and vocal cords are forming, although I’m thankful that they are not functional at this point. I can’t imagine it would feel very nice to have a little baby chomping on my insides for the next 6 months. Also, your intestines, previously forming outside of your body in the umbilical cord, are making their way into your body. That is a much better place for them! The size of your tiny body is slowly but surely catching up with the size of your head, and from now on you’ll just concentrate on getting bigger.

I promise to give you all the food and rest that you need to grow big and strong. I already love being the one to provide for you. I can’t wait until I can meet you after all this time we have spent together.

I love you so much it makes me heart want to burst.

Love,
Mama

She Says… Couldn’t Resist

So while I was shopping for my first round of maternity clothes over the weekend, I ventured into the Gap. And in this particular Gap, the maternity clothes were in the Gap Baby section. I was beelining for a cute sweater for me when something caught my eye. Something I just couldn’t leave the store without.

It was THIS:

I’ve been a bit superstitious up to this point, not wanting to buy anything until I was sure that the little babe was going to be around to enjoy it. Apparently I’m over that. I walked out with this tiny onesie in tow, and a huge, huge smile on my face.