The plum trees in front of our house are in serious bloom this week…as am I.  Good golly I’m lookin’ pregnant. 

March 6, 2010

Why I Want To Be A Mother  (adapted)

To participate in the mysteries of mother nature.

To celebrate the love between my partner and myself.

To be immortal.

To have an adventure.

To grow a family.

To be creative.

To prove that I am healthy.

To carry on the family traditions.

To journey back in time to the world of my childhood.

To laugh out loud.

To give my nieces and nephews a new cousin.

To enlarge my capacity to bond and love.

To learn the art of surrender.

To open my heart.

From “Mother’s Nature” by Andrea Alban Gosline

We’re at week 28 and into the third trimester this week!  I can’t believe how time has flown by.  Spring is showing itself around here - trees are in bloom, daffodils are brightening up our still wintered-over gardens, and the sound of lawn mowers can be heard everywhere.  That recent winter had to be the fastest in history.  At least it felt that way to me.  Spring is my favorite season, so I’m in perma-grin mode as I watch the world around me blossom.

We had our 28 Week appointment this week and all is well.  Baby’s size is right on track (according to my fundal/uterus height) and although I feel like I’ve gained a bit more weight than I wanted to, I’m still feeling really good.  This is no time to diet, anyway.  Baby is very, very busy lately, bumping around in there and giving many startling kicks a day.  I’ve started counting kicks twice a day and Baby is well above the recommended number of movements each time.  Way to go, kid!

We started a birthing class this week - Birthing From Within.  I’m excited about this class.  It’s very small - only 3 couples - and is already giving me tools to use during the birth.  We did this great exercise with ice on the first night - holding it in our hand while focusing on our breathing.  I was happy to feel like I could really focus and just let everything else fall away.  I hope I can refine this skill over the next 3 months and use it to get through the bumpy patches of birth.  It’s a 6-week class and I’m looking forward to all the enlightening activities we’ll be doing.  Thanks for the recommendation, Tanya!

Other stuff this week:*

*I really got going on my pregnancy journal (finally!) and filled it with pics from the pregnancy so far, receipts from things we’ve done and such.

*My Belly Buddy and fellow pregnant lady, McKay, had her baby.  Tate Dovelyn was born on February 24th.  I met her yesterday.  Such a sweet, pretty baby.

*Another interpreter friend announced her pregnancy and she is about 14 weeks behind me.  Congrats, LeAnn!

*I’m a little more puffy lately.  Not too bad, but I think my wedding ring will stop fitting real soon.

*I love Kool-Aid and croissants.

*My hair is out of control…and I like it.

*I’m apparently allergic/sensitive to lotions on my legs and arms, but not my belly.  Weird.

*I do not have gestational diabetes.  Yipee!

*Baby is head-down already.  The midwives call his/her position “The Frog”- arms and legs spread, head down.  What a cute image.

Loving all of this.  Happy happy. 

Here are some photos of “The Belly” at 26 weeks.  Thanks again to McKay (whose own baby is due any moment) for taking the photos.

New developments (pun intended):

*I found my first stretch mark today…I think.  Others say it looks like a scratch.  We’ll see.

*My feet and hands are a bit swollen.  Right on schedule.

*Bras are the bane of my existence.

*Baby name books are ridiculous.  Example:  Whoopi - Unknown origin, most known for the American actress/comedianne Whoopi Goldberg.

Whoa.  We’re at under 100 days before Baby is due!  We keep forgetting to take pictures of The Belly, but I feel like I should post an update.  I’ll get photos up here within the week.  Baby is getting big and is very active lately.  I’m loving this part of pregnancy - feeling the baby kick and squirm around.  I love to watch Baby move under the skin on my belly.  I can often be found sitting on the couch just staring at my bared belly, waiting to see some activity, giggling any time it does.  It’s just so cool.  I always wonder what I’m seeing - is that an arm or a leg poking out?  There are times when it feels like Baby is running in place in there or doing jumping jacks.  So active.  It makes me happy.

I started pre-natal yoga last week.  I like it, for the most part, but admit that I prefer sitting and reading or watching a movie.  Pregnancy has brought me to a whole new level of laziness which I am neither ashamed nor proud of.  I give in to it most of the time, cherishing the fact that I CAN be lazy right now, knowing full well that I will have little opportunity for laziness in the next18+ years.  I do enjoy yoga class though, in hindsight.  During the class, I’m mostly just thinking about Baby, wondering if I’m squishing him/her and knowing that the activity has got to be good for both of us.  My favorite part of the class is at the beginning when we all go around introducing ourselves, telling how far along in our pregnancy we are, and bringing up any issues or special things that have happened since the last class.  I love being in a room full of pregnant ladies (20+), if only to realize how very different womens’ bodies wear pregnancy.  It’s also very comforting to hear them convey feelings and describe experiences just like what I’m going through.  I plan to keep going all the way through my pregnancy and start their postpartum classes after Baby arrives.  I like how strong it makes me feel, even though my muscles shake during certain poses, weak from inactivity.  I don’t know if that makes sense, but when I hold a pose for the duration, breathing through moments of exhaustion, I feel powerful.  I know this will help me during the birthing process.

Food cravings aren’t very frequent any more, although I still want certain things immediately.  Peter is very sweet, running to the store or Burgerville whenever I get an urge.  The heartburn persists, which makes me lean toward bland foods like cold cereal and eggs.  The only relief from the acid vurps (you’re welcome) is constant intake of papaya enzyme tablets.  The midwives said Tums contain the wrong kind of calcium that can build up on the placenta and advised against it, so papaya it is.  Apparantly, one cannot ingest too much papaya enzyme, so I pop ‘em like candy lately and/or just eat slower and not drink anything during meals.  It’s working.  That and drinking A LOT of milk.  I can’t get enough of it.  I drink about a quart a day.  No calcium deficiencies here.  I started eating beef again, while we were in San Diego (look for a post with pics on that soon).  No hamburgers, but I’m off my no-cow diet until the baby is born.  Red meat is good for iron…and it’s pretty tasty, too.

I can’t see the underside of my belly anymore.  It gets harder to bend over each day.  I need to find some slip-on sneakers.  Some of my maternity shirts are getting too short already.  The Goodwill is my favorite resource for clothes at this point.  I’m happy to see spring around the corner - I need the fresh air and sunshine and can’t wait to get out in the yard.  Sleeping is a challenge, as is turning from side to side.  I prefer to sleep on my back, but it’s ill-advised and Baby gets all crazy when I do.  My one bottle of supplements has expanded from one (prenatal vitamins) to 4, having added iron (to prevent anemia), magnesium (to prevent leg cramps), and a B-complex (to help with energy).  I should eat more vegetables…  I suddenly love Kool-Aid, tired of drinking gallons of plain old water all day (I water it down to avoid sugar overdose).  I’m right on track as far as weight gain, although it is still a bit of a shock to see the actual numbers each month when I step on the scale.

I feel the “To Do Before Baby” list piling up, but feel confident that the things that need to get done will get done.  We’re starting to consider plans for the baby’s room - furniture arrangement, decor, etc.  We plan to keep the room the same color it is now (red) and decorate with primary colors.  I sort of hate pastel colors for decor, so we’re avoiding the typical baby blue and pink genres.  The sleeping arrangement for Baby is still something of a stumper for me.  Co-sleep or bassinet?  We have a crib, but I don’t know that we’ll use it.  I want Baby in our room with us until he/she can transition to his/her own bed but what will that bed be?  We have time to consider these things, I guess.  Various household projects are on the “To Do” that may or may not get done.  For now, Peter and I are content to just hang together, watching the Olympics and movies, savoring this precious time.

I’m also savoring the time with Baby in my belly.  I know it will end before I know it and I don’t want to forget what this amazing experience feels like.  Growing this little person is the most extraordinary thing my body has done, ever.  Even if we do have another child, I know nothing will compare to this, all of these firsts of my first pregnancy.  Every day, I’m amazed by my own body and proud of its ability to do everything its doing and creating.    As we approach the third trimester, I’m amazed at how fast this time has gone, even in those days and weeks in the beginning that seemed to drag.  I’m so thrilled to be where we are - happy, healthy, and more excited to meet this little person each and every day.

I think Baby is running out of room in my belly.  In the wee hours of this morning, he/she started tumbling around in there, waking me from a deep sleep.  It continued for at least an hour.  For the rest of the day, I felt Baby’s strong thumps and turns - his/her most active day yet.  There really is a little person in there, isn’t there?  So weird.  And cool.  And weird. 

I promised some pictures of either the 20-week ultrasound or my burgeoning belly.  Here are a few shots of me and my belly, taken by my good friend and wonderful photographer Sean.  Baby is definitely having a growth spurt this week - moving around a lot and causing me all kinds of discomfort.  It’s exciting.  Enjoy the pics.

I do a lot of poking and feeling my belly these days.  Inspiring movement and communicating with Baby.  I keep telling Peter to feel the belly too, but I don’t think the movements are strong enough to be felt externally yet.  Sigh.  Soon…

I’m pregnant, yo.

There’ve been lots of changes since I first posted about the pregnancy.  I’m due for an update (Get it? “Due”?  I’m hilarious.).  At this point, I’m enjoying being pregnant.  I love my burgeoning belly and all of it’s pretty roundness.  I was a bit distressed for a while back before Week 15 or so.  I didn’t really feel like I was showing all that much and was anxious for people to really SEE that I was pregnant instead of just wondering.  Just after our 16-week appointment with our midwives, my belly finally “popped” out and it’s been getting bigger and bigger since (of course).  I think it’s beautiful.  I don’t have any of the concern about gaining weight and/or losing it after the baby is born that I hear other women freak out about.  I may just be so thrilled at the prospect of having a child that I’ll suffer through whatever I have to - weight, stretch marks, pain, loss of sleep…whatev.  I’m loving it.  We’ll see what I have to say a month or two from now when I can no longer see my feet. 

It’s nice to finally be free to tell everyone and share pregnancy stuff with people now.  Those first 3+ months were brutal, having to hold in such exciting news.  It’s extraordinary how excited everyone seems to be.  I’m glad Baby is already so loved.  The prize for best reaction goes to our nephew Luke.  He and his cousins were comparing “fat bellies” one evening and I said “I bet I can beat you all.  There’s a BABY in my belly.”  After a millisecond of mouth-agape shock, he said “You’re having a baby?!”  “Yes,” I said.  He ran into the kitchen to tell his mother.  “KRISTA’S HAVING A BABY!!!”  I heard her reply: “When?”  He ran back over to me.  “WHEN?!”  “In May,” I said.  He rushed back into the kitchen.  “SHE’S HAVING A BABY IN MAY!!”.  So cute.

The due date (confirmed by 4 ultrasounds so far) is May 26, 2010.  I’m stoked to have our baby due in May, which is the fifth month of the year, given my love of all things five-related.  I realize the potential for Baby’s actual birthday to land in June, but I can still hope.  Again, whatev.  As long as Baby and I end up okay in the end.  We’ve got awesome midwives, recommended by a couple of wonderful friends, one of whom is pregnant right now and due in just over 5 weeks.   Oh my god.  If she’s due in under 5 weeks, we’re due in just under 20 weeks.  Whoa.  Time is flying by.  Yowza.  Anyway, Ellie and Heather over at Balanced Birth are awesome - so comforting and supportive, knowledgable and accessible.  I can’t imagine going to an OB/GYN after connecting with them.

We had our 20-week ultrasound recently.  It was amazing.  Baby was very active and a bit uncooperative (just like Mama).  The technician really had to work to get images of all the stuff she needed.  Right off the bat, we saw Baby’s little arms and hands moving around.  I’d felt little bumps and flutters in the preceeding weeks, but seeing movement is so much more of a reality somehow.  It was nice to have something Peter could experience too.  I get to feel the presence of Baby every day, several times a day.  He doesn’t.  Baby is still too small to kick hard enough for him to feel (Plus, we found out the placenta is anterior meaning it’s right up against my belly.  An extra barrier to feeling kicks externally.)  We saw the brain (the two hemispheres and the cerebellum), the heart (all 4 chambers), the stomach, kidneys, spine, full legs, feet, arms, and hands.  We didn’t get a good view of Baby’s face except for one brief moment when he/she opened his/her mouth and closed it once.  I recall “Boys of Summer” was playing on the overhead speakers in the room.  We also got to see this awesome, dual-color view of the umbilical cord.  I really love technology sometimes.  I love going to ultrasound appointments.  I could lay there for hours watching Baby tumble around.

We didn’t find out the gender of the baby.  Sorry folks.  We’re holding out until we actually meet Baby.  Not to be cliche’, but we really don’t care what the gender is.  We just want a healthy baby.  Knowing the gender will have very little effect on things, anyway.  Except that everyone suddenly starts thinking in pink or blue once they find out.  I sort of hate pastel colors and don’t want to burden my kid with gender crap before they’re even born, so we’re gonna wait.  The technician couldn’t see anything anyway.  We’ve got a pretty substantial list of names we won’t be using and a very short list of possible names for Baby.  We’re holding out on those, too.  Feel free to share ideas, though.

I’ll try to get some pics from the ultrasound up here ASAP as well as some “belly” pics.  I’ve been slacking on documenting my belly growth.  Time is going by so fast…

Meet the next Harmon baby.  Due in late May.  Trippy.

I’ve got so much travel writing to catch up on here on the ole blog… Yikers.  Europe, Philadelphia, Ashland, and now Alaska.  Here’s a teaser from my trip to the birthplace of our beloved Kelly, in honor of his birthday tomorrow.  You come from an amazing, beautiful land Kelly.  Happy Birthday!  We love you.

Me at Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau, AK.