John’s Birthstory – From Hubby’s Perspective

Did you know he’d written one out? Sure thing! It’s right here.

Did you miss *my* version?  Find it here.

Pregnancy Update: Hungry Beast

I woke up absolutely famished this morning at 6:30 a.m. despite my late night run for chicken nuggets last night with the hubby.  Yes, I know that isn’t the best of foods to be eating during pregnancy but every once in a while it’s good for the wifey to participate in naughty food runs with the hubby.  It encourages affection.

This waking up famished has been happening a lot recently, although usually it’s at a more reasonable hour, say 8 a.m. or so.  It’s such a strange feeling, knowing that you’re soooo sleepy, but you’re also soooo hungry that it’s keeping you awake.  Not to mention the kickboxing going on in your belly.  So  you’re almost hoping the baby will be content with whatever nutrition it can sap from your body for the next hour or so until you feel like getting up and making a good breakfast.  No such luck.  Your mind joins forces with your stomach, making you feel guilty for making your baby starve.  You’re half-dreaming of scrambled eggs and toast, both sleep and hunger fighting for your attention. Your time limit has run out.  It’s now 7 a.m. and you’re still not asleep, so finally you pull yourself up out of bed (getting out of bed normally is no longer an option) by holding on to the headboard as you hoist your upper body up in a slanted position, a new skill mastered in the third trimester, and you sit and wait at the edge of your bed for a few seconds while the blood catches up to the rest of your upper body before standing up.  Getting up is a such a production now.

I was hoping this getting up too early thing wouldn’t start for a few more months, but it seems that  getting adequate sleep in the third trimester is a rare thing, too.  Mostly because the belly makes it hard to find a comfortable sleeping position, but I would also add the stuffy/runny nose thing makes it difficult to breathe, which makes it difficult to sleep.  And then, if you get a bloody nose, that keeps you awake as well.  Which I do get.  Fairly often.  At least once daily.  I didn’t used to think it was a big deal but it’s getting really old now and I think I might follow hubby’s advice and get my nose cauterized soon.

The swelling in my feet still happens, but I’m definitely blessed to be able to put my feet up whenever I want to.  My fingers are swelling, as well.  Making a fist is almost painful from the swollen tissue around my fingers.  It doesn’t look too bad and I can still close my hand, I just can’t make a tight fist.  My wedding rings haven’t fit in at least a month and a half.

I still have pains in my lower back after standing too long, but I got a prenatal massage finally, which although made me hurt a little, has kept the pain away from my back for almost three days.  That’s quite a feat.  It could also be attributed to the pain patches I wear on my low back, though.  In any case, it was fun getting a little professional attention.  I’m always so hesitant to do these things and then I’m always happy to have done them.

The baby is growing well, and at last week’s appointment the midwife said there was practically no uterine growth, so we are no longer concerned about twins or having to get an ultrasound.  You can believe my side of the family is a little bummed.  I think they really wanted the ultrasound pictures.  I feel blessed that I don’t have to worry about making that decision anymore.  So now I’m only measuring ahead by four weeks instead of five and I hope it was only due to some kind of fluid exchange or something like that.

The child is definitely an active little one, making my belly do all kinds of acrobatics during the day.  Earlier this morning (and even right now) the child was doing some kind of stretching, where it slowly but forcefully stretches out its little legs and makes my belly expand in a lopsided manner.  The shape of my belly changes constantly throughout the day.  It seems only I can tell the difference, but sometimes it’s easier to see than others.

I often ask the hubby to put his hand on the belly and speak soothing words.  When he does, the baby calms down and I think it falls asleep.  It’s cute to think the baby’s already reacting to it’s daddy’s voice.  I can’t wait to see how that works out once the baby is here in our arms.  We are both very excited to meet this little one already.  It seems it will have lots of personality.

Only about six weeks left to go!

Trip To The Northern Oregon Coast

Trip to the northern Oregon coast, last Sunday.

The pictures with the big rock are at Pacific City.  The forest-looking ones are at Cape Lookout.

Sick, But At Least I’m Home

Unrelated, here are some pretty flowers I received a few weeks ago.

I knew that I was coming down with a cold on Monday.  I had that familiar tickle in my throat and my strength ran out pretty quickly that day.  Tuesday I woke up sick indeed and although I attempted to take good care of myself and rest in bed, I wasn’t able to sleep until 4:45 a.m. Wednesday morning and only until 9:30 a.m.  I really hate trying to fall asleep with a stuffy nose, but it seems to be so much worse when you can’t get comfortable in bed with the big preggo belly.  Thankfully the hubby was awake with me from about 11:30 p.m. until I fell asleep.  We stayed up watching episodes of The Office online and we cooked up some chicken legs to eat around 2 a.m.

Though I’m incredibly tired and cranky, I’m still very thankful that I don’t have to worry about calling in sick every morning I don’t feel well, trying to convince some superior that I really am sick and worrying about calling in time to find a replacement.  Worse is when you worry whether or not you have enough sick pay left!  If I’d had to wake up at 7 a.m. to call a supervisor to call in sick, I would not have gotten the additional two hours of sleep this morning and I would be worse off right now.

Last night with the hubby, we were both so thankful that we could stay up without worry of what obligations we had in the morning, because we had none!  That really is a relief after so many years of having to get up to go to work.

What a blessing, despite being sick!

Though I’m thankful in my own way, I still think being sick while pregnant stinks and I hope to get better quickly.  I hate not being able to sleep, tired though I am.

I wonder how long it will take to get better this time.

Stay-At-Home Wife

This is my new title.  I am finally able to say that I stay home during my days, taking care of my home and husband.  No longer am I confined to a desk for nine hours a day, whittling away my time in return for a check.  No longer do I come home from work exhausted, swollen and bloated from sitting for so long.  Nope, now I get to be active and productive at home.  This is such an exciting time for me.

So how did it happen?  Well, simple really.  I got laid off work.  At this point people usually say, “oh no, I’m so sorry!” but I say, don’t be.  Why should you be if I’m not?  You see, I’ve been *hoping* to get laid off for months now!

For a few years now, HaShem has been doing interesting things in me.  He’s been changing many things about me, including turning my heart towards home.  First he turned my heart and I was left wondering how I was going to fulfill this new desire within me to come home.  How could I when we needed the money, when it was socially not very acceptable for a woman to stay home, when my husband wanted me at work…?  Slowly, I began to look for ways in which I could fulfill this new calling.  I began to learn a lot of different ways to live more simply so that it wouldn’t be “necessary” to have two incomes.  My husband too, was learning new ways to do this, totally on his own.  We came together to discuss these new things excited about being “on the same page” about simplicity, but the hubby was still not sure about me not having a job.

Slowly, over the last few months, hubby has had his heart turn towards home as well.  HaShem has been preparing him as well as me, for His timing.  This year, my work has had many layoffs.  At first, my husband was very worried over them and thankful that I “survived” them while I sat there thinking, is this the time, L-rd?  Am I supposed to quit or get laid off?  Is this your plan?  But he always said “not yet.”  As the months passed, the hubby began to accept the idea of my getting laid off and even started getting excited at the thought.  I couldn’t believe the change in his attitude over this, but then, that’s what usually happens when HaShem changes a person.  

This time, somewhere in the back of my mind I knew that it was my turn.  From the outside it might seem to be bad timing.  After all, I’m in my third trimester of pregnancy and surely I need the health insurance coverage, right?  Thankfully, we chose to go with a midwife, which means the rates are substantially lower than hospital bills would be, and anyway we can get cobra at low rates for nine months.  Not only that, but getting laid off means I can rest and prop my feet up whenever I need to, not have to ask for permission to use the restroom (which we all know is quite often for pregnant ladies) and feeling bad making someone cover for me for a few minutes almost every hour.   It means I can get unemployment benefits for a time, while I look for something I can do from home to bring in a small income.  Not that we need it, but it’s been the plan for a while for me to have some kind of backup income should something happen.  With maternity leave there is no pay at all!  They just hold your job for 12 weeks.  It means not having to get up at 5:45 a.m. to catch the 6:50 a.m. bus so I can get to work at 8.  It means not getting home so late and tired that I can barely force myself to make dinner, and not getting to eat it until after 7:30 p.m. the doing chores and getting to bed late.  I mean, seriously, how is this not so much better?

It’s been amazing for me to see how HaShem’s plans develop in my life.  They really are better than anything I could have planned for myself and His timing is impeccable!  This is why I have been such a happy person since my layoff.  You wouldn’t believe how giddy I was that day and the days immediately following.  It’s over a week later now and I’m a little shocked to feel *so comfortable* in this new role.  I feel like I’ve been doing this forever and it’s even hard now for me to imagine having to get up to go to work!  

So yes, I got laid off, but it’s the best thing that has happened to me in months!  It’s a blessing! And we are doing fine.  We are both happy I’m finally home.  

Baruch HaShem for this and all His blessings in my life.

California Days

My grandmother’s 80th birthday party was the weekend of September 12th.  We flew out there the day before and stayed through the following Wednesday.  We were able to see family that we hadn’t seen in years because of where they live, like my aunt Mila from Peru or my uncle Arxa from Miami.  Most of my grandma’s extended family was there and it was a lovely, touching time. 

Here we are waiting for the “program” to start.  It was my best prego party dress, and I still felt under-dressed compared to everyone else there.  It’s hard finding good prego clothes.   Hubby looked stunning in his blue shirt.

Bachelorette Cooking

With the hubby gone it’s been a lot easier to make “chick” food.  Though I get to make it sometimes while he’s around, it’s gotta be some kind of side dish with something more “filling” as the main course.

Last night, I got a chance to try a new recipe.  Garlicky Angel Hair Pasta with Roasted Grape Tomatoes.  Definitely chick-food.  Definitely delicious.  Basically, it’s lightly-browned-garlic infused olive oil, tossed with angel hair pasta (in my case whole wheat angel hair), tossed again with broiled grape tomatoes (slightly blackened), basil and parmesean. 

I think I used plum tomatoes instead of grape tomatoes though, since they were slightly larger and juicier than the grape usually are.  They also browned a little more under the broiler than the picture on the recipe, but the inside flesh was just right.  It even got on the pasta a little better than the grape tomatoes would have.  Anyway, it was delicious.  I ate the whole thing.  I meant to pair it with a salad, but since I’d had so many greens/veggies throughout the day already and I was really quite tired, I just ate the pasta.

Garlicky Angel Hair Pasta with Roasted Grape Tomatoes

Ok, granted my picture is not as great as the one in the recipe, but it was still pretty good.  Had I used more garlic, cooked the noodles just a minute or two longer and used shredded instead of grated parmesean, this would have been a superb dish. 

Also eaten this week:
Sun: Vegetarian Bean Chili/Stew
Mon: Pescado Sudado (Steamed Fish Fillets – Peruvian Style) and cooked greens. I think I had kale or collard, not sure.
Tues: Green Beans a la South of France with Cucumber/Tomato Salad
Wed: dinner at the country club (fish & potatoes)

I’m still undecided as to what I should make tonight for Shabbat.  I have a TON more green beans left (from our weekly CSA box) and would like to incorporate them into the menu somehow… maybe chicken, too?

Bachelorette (for the next 8 days)

Hubby has been gone the last couple days and will continue to be gone for the next 8 or so.  I am home alone and after all the inicial cleaning, I find I don’t quite know what to do with myself.  Things are clean, the laundry is done, the birds fed, the dog walked, the cat entertained.  Even the stray kitty got attention today.  I don’t want to sit in front of the t.v. all evening, and yet what else is there to do?

It seems my imagination is on vacation because I haven’t even felt crafty recently.  Tonight I went to see Julie and Julia, the new movie out about Julia Child, which was very cute by the way, but offered only a slight impulse to cook.  Without the hubby here to enjoy it with me, how could it be any fun?

So, we’ll see what happens this week as I find myself alone in my home for the next eight days.  In the meantime, here’s the latest belly bump:

22.5 weeks

Fighting With My Stomach – Week 13

Week 13:  Second Trimester

It’s been more difficult for me lately.  I have thrown up bile twice now, with uncontrolable gagging – even after there’s nothing in my stomach – and I lost my morning shake once (yesterday).  This is so unlike me.  Even when I am so nauseated that I’m salivating I can usually control the urge to empty my stomach and just keep it inside.  I really hate throwing up.  No mental pep-talks helped me yesterday. 

They say it usually gets worse before it gets better.  I’m in my second trimester as of today, so hopefully this is the time when it gets better.  It’s not just that I don’t like feeling nauseated or having to fight to keep my food down, it’s just that my house gets really messy and the garden is producing so much and hubby is so stressed out about it all.  I wish I could help!  I am stuck in bed, horizontal, as soon as I get off work.  I can’t help it, that’s when I feel my worst (except for the last two days of true MORNING sickness) and I’m so EXHAUSTED there’s just not much I can do.  I’m useless.  It’s such an awful feeling, feeling useless. 

Hubby has been really good to me by being my reluctant waiter, bringing food I can keep down, my Reliv shakes, rubbing my back when I need it.  It’s a tough job.  Plus he’s helped me pick up around the house when it’s gotten too messy for me alone to handle on my good days.  How does one handle pregnancy with small children around and poopie diapers and all those other little kid yucky smells?  I can barely stand my dog’s breath.  I’m amazed at women who handle pregnancy much better than I have so far.

Hubby is concerned about my lack of excercise.  Truth be told, walking over to the bathroom is about all the excercise I can handle right now.  A walk?  No thanks.  A bike ride?  You’re out of your mind.  Is it natural to be as exhausted as me?  I suppose if I didn’t work full-time I’d have more time to rest and save my energy for such things as walks and other exercise.  But by the time I get home, I am truly too tired to get out of bed.  So yes, I watch a lot of T.V.  And I doze off and on.  Is that so awful?  Maybe.  I just don’t see another way right now.

I have gotten a handful of maternity (or wide enough to be maternity) shirts for my wardrobe recently and I’m so thankful for them.  My belly is growing ever so noticeably (at least, for me) although I probably just look like I’ve eaten too much to others.  I would take a picture, but since I didn’t start off with a flat belly, all I’ll really be showing is the belly flab over the baby belly and that’s just embarrassing.  I think I’ll post a picture as soon as I’ve got a definitive baby belly going.

In my last appointment with the midwife I had the opportunity to hear the baby’s heartbeat with the doppler, but I turned the opportunity down.  I wanted to steer clear of anything that isn’t natural, although I asked her if she would try the fetal stethoscope thingy.  She seemed amused at the idea, saying she usually couldn’t hear anything until the 20th week or over with the fetal stethoscope.  She tried it anyway and wondered if she heard a heartbeat faintly, but she couldn’t be sure.  We decided to wait until the next appointment to try again.  Also happening next appointment is my bloodwork.  I asked if this was absolutely necessary, but apparently it is.   Ick.  Needles and blood.   Usually my veins are so small that they are not easy to find (usually two or three tries to get in) but since there is more blood in my body now thanks to Fetus, the midwife is sure it will go a lot easier.  I hope so.

Hubby is sure Fetus is a boy.  I asked him if he was certain of it and he feels very strongly that it is.  We get the question often of whether we’d like a boy or a girl, but I’m not sure I know how to answer that.  Truly, I’d be quite happy with either one.  I’m not picky, really, I just want a baby. I think the real question for me would be what would be easier at this point?  It would be much easier for me to have a girl.  I am still worried about where to go for a brit milah if I had a son.  It’s true I could just have any ol’ doctor do it, but would they do it on the eighth day?  Would they say the prayers?  Because that is what I’d really like.  I guess in the end it doesn’t really matter, but I would hope when the day comes I could do it properly and have it be a festive occasion. 

A few days ago my sweet mother-in-law sent me some things for my birthday, and among them were some onesies for the baby.  How sweet of her to be looking for baby things already.  It’s exciting to me when I think about having little baby things around.  I have already cleared a drawer in my dresser for the baby’s things.  I plan to make the top of my wide dresser a changing station, getting only the pad to go on top.  We don’t really have room for a whole changing table and it’s unnecessary when I can use what I already have, right?  Maybe I’m being too minimalistic about things but I just want to stay practical and frugal.  There shouldn’t be a need to spend so much money on getting a million baby things.  Women in the past have done without all those gadgets and still had healthy babies, right?   Not that having a nursery with a pile of toys and diaper genies and other gadges is bad or anything, I just don’t think it’s practical for us.  We don’t really have the room for it, and I don’t think we’d even use it, if we did have it. 

Things I think we will absolutely need:

• cloth diapers and wool soakers
• moses basket/bassinet or something similar
• clothes
• blankets
• car seat

Things I would like to have:

• infant bath sling/EZ Bather
• baby wash cloths
• head support for carseat
• toys/ baby swing or vibrating seat
• slings/baby carriers (I’ll make these myself most likely)
• Hooter Hiders (I have a pattern for this as well)
• baby shoes (so cute!)
• diaper bag

Things I don’t want to have:

• loud, electric or battery-operated baby toys
• disposable diapers
• too much stuff!

More Sea Lions!

Despite the ups and downs I’ve had lately, I’m actually doing really well.  Yes, if you haven’t figured it out yet, we are pregnant.  I am currently 7.5 weeks along, right in the throes of morning sickness.  But it’s really okay!  We were going to wait until the first trimester before saying anything, but my dh is so excited it’s leaked out a few times to some of his friends already and I just couldn’t let all my friends be in the dark about it, you know?  So here we are.

I hadn’t shared the rest of the Sea Lion Caves pictures yet, so here they are:

This is the beautiful view walking towards the caves.  You had to walk this length and get to that little red-roofed shelter area, where there was an elevator that would take you 300ft. down to the caves!

The sea lions were sitting on that stone in the middle,