Is this really happening?

I have to say that I was beyond scared about our ultrasound this week. I was beyond excited but also scared about what they might find....or rather not find.

I have followed blogs of other pregnancy mommies who have found out that their children are stricken with some horrific condition that makes them unsuitable for life outside the womb or will have some lifelong disability. I admit, I was scared that I would be one of those mommies.

I had a lot of risk factors stacked up against me. My age....my weight....the medication that I decided I would keep taking because it was better for me to be on it than to come off of it. I know the doctor said that I wasn't at any higher risk for birth defects than an unmedicated woman my age but it still lingered in the back of my mind.

I carefully watched the doctor's face. She gave NOTHING away!! But I paid extra close attention to everything she and the tech said. "There's the stomach....looks good." "There are the kidneys....function looks good." "Let's measure his head...good." "Here's his arm, let's measure from wrist to elbow...good." "Here's his leg, we're measuring the humerus now...good." "There's one foot....now the other...and there's a hand....and the other." "Ahh...there's the heart now..." They paid extra close attention to the heart...taking several looks at it from several directions. I finally said, "Wait...I think I see the four chambers, is that right?" The doctor nods but says nothing. We finally got a shot of him from the front but his head is down and we can't see him too awfully well. Also, we couldn't get a good profile shot of him so back I go in 4 weeks for a few additional peeks at him.

I can only say that I am ecastatic that all looks good with the baby. It's literally like a weight was lifted and taken away - a weight that I didn't even really realize was bogging me down.

My baby is healthy. I am healthy. Shooter is healthy. Right now life can not get any better.

L.

No way you're getting pink bedding!

So, last weekend my parents came in for a visit - my Dad for a short one day and my Mom for several days so that she could go to the ultrasound appointment. On Sunday, after my Dad had headed home, Mom and I went out shopping for baby bedding.

I should say that I had previously picked out a set but had only seen it online. While we were out crib shopping on Saturday I got to actually see it in person and boy was I glad. If I had actually gotten that one I would have been so dissatisfied. We got a dark wood crib and we have decided to paint the walls a neutral khaki color and this bedding would have been so dull in the room. The colors were not as vivid as I had imagined and it just wasn't "right". Here's a picture:

After looking at it in the store for a good long time, I decided that it wasn't going to work. Cute as it was, it just wasn't what I was after. I decided I wanted something more vibrant.

So Mom and I went to Babies R Us and looked around. We added tons of stuff to my baby registry and then went and looked at the bedding. One immediately stood out to me because of it's bold colors and striking patterns. I knew it was what I wanted. Here is a picture:

It's going to be absolutely striking in our nursery with the dark wood crib and neutral walls. I cannot wait to get it all set up! Oh...and when Shooter looked at the picture online he thought the block in the bottom right corner was pink, hence the comment about his son not having pink bedding. After zooming in I showed him that it was a red and white check pattern that just looked pink in the photo. He was noticeably relieved. ;-)

I actually have a timeline for me and dear old Shooter. Our goal is to have the room finally cleared out, painted, carpets cleaned and the crib assembled and furniture in the nursery by the end of March. It's a pretty lofty goal, but I think we can achieve it if we really push ourselves. I'm feeling great these days so I think we'll make it. :-)

L.

The big reveal!

On Tuesday we headed over to see our Perinatologist, Dr. Mann, for the big reveal of the baby. Monday marked the 20 week mark in this pregnancy and we were scheduled for the big anatomy ultrasound.

We had the requsite crowd there, Shooter, Shooter's Mom and my Mom.

The tech gets the little guy up on the screen and he's moving all over the place. I joke, "Probably shouldn't have had that espresso before we came in, huh?" She didn't find it as funny as I did.

Can I just tell you how absolutely amazing modern technology is? She started navigating the little booger and starts by showing us his stomach, then his spine, then his ribs, then his legs, then his arms. (Oh...and yes, he's DEFINITELY a boy. We saw it from several angles and there's no disputing the evidence she found!) She's doing measurements all the time as well. She measures his head and thankfully it's not as big as his father's....yet. We see his feet and his hands. He gives us a big "Thumbs Up" at one point - which we perceive as his indication that all is perfect in his little world.

The doctor then came in and he had moved around enough for her to get a good look at his heart and kidneys. Let's just say that the doctor has a great poker face. I'd be surprised if I didn't see her on the poker tour next year, she's that good. I couldn't read anything on her face!! Finally she looks at me and says that everything looks great. She does want to see me back in 4 weeks but that's just to see if we can get a look at him without him curled in a ball. We didn't get to see a profile, either, which she wants to see. She said that if she were concerned at all she would tell me, but she said everything looks perfect so far.

Can I tell you what a huge weight was lifted from my shoulders? I truly felt like God's angels were carrying away a burden that I hadn't even really realized was there. Today I feel lighter and happier and ready to finish this journey!

L.

Half way there

Okay...Monday marked the halfway point in this pregnancy.

My belly was half as big when we started this journey back in October.

My emotions were half as overwhelming back in October.

I eat half as much food at one time as I did back in October....

But I ate half as often as I do now.

I take half as much crap now before I explode and go postal.

I can sit half as long before my butt falls asleep.

I can lift my leg half as high in the shower, which makes shaving one's leg an interesting task.

It takes me half as long to fall asleep and twice as long to wake up.


All in all....the halfway mark is a darn good place to be!

:-)

But I don't wanna go shopping!!!!

I don't know that I've ever uttered those words in my entire life....I don't want to go shopping. Nope...never crossed these lips before! I love to shop. I have always loved to shop.

Until now.....

Because now I'm buying clothes for a cycle of life where I will only wear them for a few short months. Because now I can't find the clothes I like on sale anymore. Because I can't find the clothes I like in my size.

I had a brief meltdown yesterday when I discovered that NONE of my adorable capri pants from last spring/summer fit. Not even with the Bella Bands I have. Nope...because apparently my butt is spreading out as well as my belly growing out. FUN TIMES!

Let's just say that at the 5 month point - I just feel fat and bloated and ugh! I'm at that lovely point where emotions meet hormones and create thunderstorms of tears of the likes no one has ever seen. I'm at the point where if my schedule gets out of whack just a little bit, it causes me pain.

Not even a trip to JCPenney online to buy 3 pairs of pants assauged my angst. Mainly cause I don't even really like the pants....they just happened to be capris and have the ability to expand with my mutant belly....so I bought them.

Just wait...I'm sure tomorrow will turn into a "I love being pregnant" day....hehe...

Hormones.....

L.

I can only shake my head....

Okay...I have been pondering over the last several days the situation of the Mom in California who gave birth to the octuplets. One thing that stood out to me was that there was never any mention of a father. Only the Mom.

Then I started to read news stories mentioning parents. Interesting...

Then the big news hit....she already had 6 children. Still no mention of a father...by now I'm starting to think something fishy is going on.

Now, The Associated Press is out with this article where we find out a little more about this Mom of octuplets. She has apparently conceived ALL of her children through fertility treatments. There is no father...there is no husband....there's not even an EX-husband. There's an ex-BOYFRIEND who she broke up with before her first child was born. She is apparently unemployed and living with her parents. Her family is from Iraq and from a report I heard on the radio this morning, her father is going back there to earn money for them as he lost his job here.

Now...I could go on and on about this woman and her 14 children and how I'll be helping to pay for their welfare for decades to come...but honestly that's not the reason I'm so friggin' upset about this.

What fertility doctor would agree to put a woman through fertility treatments when she already has 6 children, no father and no job? I know there are all kinds of privacy reasons that can be brought up - but seriously!!!! This woman had no business having even one more child!

I certainly hope that the State of California takes a hard look at this case. It should be grounds to pull this doctor's license. It should be grounds to have all 8 of these babies taken away and given to families where they can grow up with the attention they deserve and every thing they could want.

I know this is a view that comes from behind rose-colored glasses. I know that this world isn't perfect and that children are abused and neglected every day - but you have to start somewhere , right?

L.

Yummy and Quick Homemade Barbecue Sauce

So, I ended up at home on Friday - sick. Yea, this pregnancy thing has it's not so fine points. One of them is your overactive mucous membranes. In laymans terms it means I'm full of snot. Normally I'm okay handling the snot but when you start come down with a cold it just makes things all that much worse. That was me on Friday. Snot everywhere and sinuses clogged solid.

How does that happen anyway?? How can your nose run like a river yet be clogged so solidly you can't breathe? That's one of those questions I'll ask God when I get to Heaven, cause it really has me stumped.

So, I'm at home on Friday and I have 5 chicken breasts in the fridge that need to be cooked...so I think, self, let's do barbecue chicken! So I shuffle to the fridge and to my amazement we have no barbecue sauce! I can't fathom that. Well, that puts me on a search for a recipe for barbecue sauce because I know I have all the items to make it.

I checked my regular standbys, Allrecipes.com and Food Network, only to be really disappointed with what I found. Then I found out that my Cooks Illustrated registration has expired and I wasn't in the mood to extend it. So my next stop was Recipezaar, which is an amazing site if you have a few ingredients and are looking for a recipe to use them. There I found a great recipe for a homemade barbecue sauce that looked very similar to one my Mom used to make.


Quick Barbecue Sauce

1/2 cup onion, finely chopped
2 tsp minced garlic
2 cup ketchup
1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 cup lemon juice
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons worcestershire sauce
3 teaspoons prepared mustard
1/4 tsp hot pepper sauce

In small saucepan, cook onion and garlic in margarine until tender. Add remaining ingredients; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer uncovered 15 to 20 minutes.


For my barbecue chicken, I just lined a baking dish with aluminum foil and then salted and peppered the chicken breasts. I then spooned the barbecue sauce over the chicken breasts, both sides, then covered the dish with aluminum foil and baked them for about an hour at 350 degrees. I served it with some rice and a corn and cherry tomato salad that I'd made earlier in the week. So Yummy!!!!

L.