I dopplered

I knew every excellent reason why I shouldn't get one.  And ultimately, I didn't care.  I wanted one.  I broke down.  I ordered it.  And then today, it came.

My first ten minutes of dopplerhood involved hearing my own heartbeat in way more places than I thought possible.  Gave up and told myself I'd try at 12 weeks.  That particular resolve lasted about 2 hours, at which point I busted Mr. Doppler out again to have a listen.

I wasn't positive I'd be able to tell the difference between Peanut's heartbeat and mine - but once I heard it, it was ridiculously easy.  Peanut's heart beats literally TWICE AS FAST as mine.

For the record, Peanut is clocking in around 180bpm tonight.  I think it helps that I ate right before I used it - all that yummy sugary watermelon must have woken poor Peanut up!

Opinions are like - um - butts

Dear people who have already given birth,

I am so glad to hear that "you made it."  In fact, I'm quite sure that I'll "make it" too.  The route I take to get there, however, is my business.  With that in mind, please withhold all unrequested opinions and advice.  I'm ever so glad to hear that you labored for 70 hours without an ounce of pain medication.  Still in possession of my brain, I'm going to go ahead and say that's just not for me.  It's lovely to know that you never took any drugs for morning sickness, because you wouldn't want to hurt your baby.  The fact that I need to function all day long in order to get paid and continue to have health insurance certainly does not mean that I want to hurt mine.  And actually, I think I might be okay with my baby looking like a giant Zofran when he/she is born. 

A special addendum to mothers that are a few decades older than I:

This isn't 1972.  I know you mean well, but I won't be putting my baby to sleep on his/her stomach, I don't think it's "perfectly fine" to smoke while pregnant just because you did it, and crib bumpers aren't cute enough to make up for the additional SIDS risk.

My choices are MY CHOICES.  Everyone can take their vaguely-well-meaning advice and - well - it wouldn't be polite to finish that sentence.  Suffice it to say that I don't need to be told what to eat, how to be pregnant, the "best" way to give birth, or how much I must hate my kid for being okay with a pacifier.  I'll make my mistakes the same way you made yours.  And my kid will be just fine.

Names Have Been Chosen

Names have been chosen.  I won't post them here, because Mom reads this and Tom and I have agreed to keep it a secret, but fellow bumpies can be let in on the secret.

Moving on...

We're keeping these a secret because we emphatically DO NOT want opinions.  Back when we had a long list, both of these names were dumped on.  Our boy name is "too common" and people seem to prefer it spelled "the other way."  Our girl name is "strippery" and the middle name "doesn't flow."  Tough jellybeans, folks.  We are in love with our names.

The Official News-spread

After our great visit and ultrasound at 9w4d, Husband and I figured that the only *reasonable* thing to do was to tell the world. 

We told one set of friends the day after the ultrasound.  They were appropriately thrilled for us.  We have two more sets of couples that we really hang out with, and we haven't told them yet.  Kind of a "next time we see them" sort of thing.  Other than that, a few coworkers here and there know, and others will catch on eventually.  No big "announcement" planned.

So, family.

We started with his mom, and to be honest, I have no idea how he told her.  I sent a gift, and the plan was that she'd open it and understand.  This may have happened.  I never actually asked.  The gift, for the record, was a onesie that said "I love Grandma" along with a copy of the ultrasound picture.  Since Ohio-brother and his wife already knew, and PA-brother was there when MIL found out, that pretty much takes care of Tom's family.


But my family is bigger and more complicated and more geographically diverse.  Mom has known since the day I saw two pink lines, and Laura found out at the same time, but they've been awesome at keeping quiet.  Since I can't tell any of them in person, I wanted to be at least vaguely creative.  For the big ones, anyway.

For my grandparents, I put together a wedding photo album and made the very last picture our ultrasound picture.  Mailed it to Mom, who will give it to them when she's back from Alaska.  She'll make sure they understand what they're seeing and be able to celebrate with them.  Yay.  The package is now sitting in her PO box, waiting to be picked up.  Get back from Alaska already, mom!

Dad in STT got a wedding photo album too.  But his wife got an email, explaining what was up, so she could make sure he understood what was going on.  The package is currently in PR and he should have it by early next week.

Big sister and her husband found out via email.  Okay, not creative, but they'll deal.  I told my brother over IM, and asked him to keep quiet for the next couple of weeks while I get word out to everyone else.  Easy. 

So things are kind of held up right now on mom getting back from Alaska.  Once she's back and the grandparents are told, word can spread freely to the rest of the family and I can stop avoiding people's calls (out of fear that I'll slip up).

First time at the new OB

I can't believe I forgot to post about my all-important first visit with the new OB.  June 18th.  I'll backdate this to make it look like I'm not a forgetter-face.

The rundown:
- lots of paperwork.  Paperwork upon paperwork, and when I finished that and got to go to my stirrup-encrusted exam room?  You guessed it, more paperwork.

- Nurses - nice ones, who don't make me wait ten forevers to pee.  If you're pregnant, you just *know* to show up having to pee like it's your job.  Nothing irks me more than showing up, having to pee, and not being allowed to.  Other than the husband actually beating me to the restroom, and having to wait for HIM to finish, all went smoothly in this department.  Side note - my pee was negative for the badness.  Whatever that badness might be.

- Answered tons of questions about terrifying things that do NOT run in either of our families.  Thank god.  My family is heart attacky/strokey/lupusy but thankfully not Downsy/CF-y/mental retardationy.  The worst thing that we have to look out for is that I have a minor NTD.  And our sequential screen next month should hopefully help calm our fears on that front.

- Met the doctor.  Doctor Belden.  Mister Doctor Belden.  I've never had a dude-OB before and thought I'd be weirded out.  Turns out, no.  It's fine with me.  Husband feels weird about it a bit, but it helps that Mr. Dr. is kind of old.  Too kind of old to still be hot.  Plus I'm fairly preoccupied by OMG IT'S MY BABY! to enjoy Mr. Dr.'s company.

- Didn't have an internal (not entirely sure why - everything I've heard and read has said I'd get an internal, but I haven't had one since before I got pregnant) but I guess it's because I just had my pap in March.  I'm not complaining.  Fewer hands up my hoo-ha make me a happy girl. (in this respect, delivery will make me a sad, sad girl.  I know this.)

- Our first ultrasound.  It was flippin' awesome.  The baby looked great.  He/She is adorable, I can already tell.  Husband and I held hands while we listened to the heartbeat and saw the Peanut chillin' in his/her little hot tub.  Lots of fun.

- Scheduling ahead.  My next appointment with Mr. Dr. is on july 16th.  My next appointment overall is July 12th at 7:45 in the morning (um, this is no good for me, I like to schedule dry heaving and general retching between 7am and 8am) for Part I of the Sequential Screen.  The ultrasoundy part!  Looking forward to seeing how much Peanut changes in 3 weeks.  There will be a placenta (oooo, placenta) and peanut should go from prune-sized to peach-sized.

 Peanut @ 9w4d.  2.74cm CRL (1.1 inches) No, I am not also gestating a small moon.  That's the yolk sac, and it will go away at some point.  I  have no idea when.




And while we're at it - clearly my husband is psychic, because he knew what the kid would look like weeks ago.  Except that I don't have a bicornuate uterus, thankfully enough.

People are Stupid

However could I have forgotten to tell one of my latest "People are Stupid" stories?  Here goes...

I was at the mall, shopping for new bras at Motherhood Maternity (gag, they only had nursing bras, so yeah, now I have access flaps) when I decided I was hungry.  Reasonable, since I was shopping over the lunch hour.  I took my Motherhood bag with me to the food court and tried a new Mexican place called "Fresh Tortilla Grill" (do not go.  It be yucky).  They didn't have fountain drinks and the only options were coke, sprite, and diet coke.  Not even bottled water.  I happen to think Sprite is foul.  Although I've mostly done away with caffeine, I decided to splurge on the diet coke instead of suffering through a gaggy sprite.  My choice, right?  You'd think...

I took my tray and sat down at a table, tossing my bag on the table next to the tray.  I have to imagine the bag was what started this all, because at 8 weeks pregnant, the only one who thinks I *look* pregnant is my husband, and that's really only because he's a moron and says things like "wow, you look big" when he should clearly be replacing "big" with "pretty".  I digress.

Sat at my table, cracked open the diet coke, and no sooner did I take a sip when this woman comes RUSHING over to my table and berates me for drinking the diet coke and clearly not caring about my baby. 

First of all, one can of soda is not going to hurt my baby.  If you see me participating in a case race, or chainsmoking cigarettes, fine, say something.  I probably deserve to hear it.  But flipping out on total strangers over a can of soda?  Come on...

Not to mention that the assumption that I'm pregnant is, IMO, fairly presumptuous.  I don't look pregnant (unless she has my husband's particular brand of blindness and stupidity), and while I'm guessing she read the bag and figured I just didn't look the type to buy something for someone other than myself, I could just have easily already HAD my baby and simply needed some new bras or stretch mark cream or whatever the hell else they sell in there. 

For what it's worth, I kept pretty calm, and told the woman that while I appreciated her misguided concern, I was fully capable of making these "difficult" decisions on my own.

My future children?

These are allegedly my future children, created from wedding pictures of me and Tom.  I can't decide if they're creepy or cute.  I'm going to go with "both"

Father's Day approaches

So of course mommy shops.  Last year, Daddy got a grill (and mommy got a diamond necklace).  This year, mommy got baby stuff.  Guess what daddy's getting...

FTR, yes I consider these "unisex".