kapachino

Category: motherhood

  • we’re having a…

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    But most of you probably already knew that, considering I’ve been talking about it on Twitter and Facebook, and am not exactly timely in getting this post up. But yep, it’s most definitely a boy, no question about it, little guy was not shy at all and David was quite proud.

    So, I have thoughts and they are thus:

    1. Yay! A boy! I know deep down that’s what David wanted and I’m so happy he’ll have a little guy to teach to be a man and I’ll get to find out what it’s like to mother a boy. It will be different and fun and exciting.

    2. I guess this means I’ll have to make some changes to the nursery to make it less girly and more neutral. I still intend to have Meredith share the room with the baby for awhile, until she gets old enough to move her into her own room (and when I have the energy to turn our guest room into a kids’ room). Kind of a bummer that the kids won’t always be able to share a room.

    3. A little worried because it seems like boys are more energetic overall and I’m just a really calm, laid-back person. I’m not the type of mom to play rough and tumble or to be running around all the time. Maybe Meredith will have a calming effect on him.

    4. Boy names are not nearly as fun as girl names. This part is going to be tough.

    5. Can’t reuse all of Meredith’s clothes either. Although I do have two nephews so that will help in the hand-me-down department.

    6. I still just can’t imagine what it’ll be like to have a boy…but I guess I will find out!

  • 20 weeks

    20 weeks

    Time for an official pregnancy update, yeah?

    Symptoms: Nothing really to complain about. Most days I still have a bout of nausea a few hours after I wake up but it passes quickly. Overall I have a pretty big appetite. In the past month I have gained about 8 pounds and am up a total of 12-ish which is similar to my last pregnancy at this point. Bloating is kept in check by avoiding large amounts of dairy. Almost every  night I wake up around 3:30 or 4am to pee and then don’t get any good sleep after that so I’m tired in the mornings. So far no signs of carpal tunnel which was a big issue in my last pregnancy.

    Medical stuff: I am still slightly anemic and am supposed to be taking iron supplements but I’m not. Maybe one of these days I will get motivated and start taking them but it’s just not something I’m worried about and I don’t feel like dealing with the side effects.

    Movement: Over the past week I went from maaaaybe feeling the baby move every few days to feeling it for sure throughout each day. David even felt it kick once! It’s such a relief, and one of the most amazing things.

    Clothes: My scrubs are getting a little tight but are hanging in there. I am very limited right now on other clothes that fit. Most maternity clothes are still baggy but regular stuff is too tight. This weekend I’m going shopping for some transitional stuff that I can wear again when I’m not pregnant. Maxi skirts and loose shirts for the win!

    Preparation: Well, I started a small list of things that would be nice to have for a second baby. I’ve been brainstorming names but so far they’ve all been shot down by David. Our anatomy scan is on Monday so once we find out the sex we can think about it more seriously, along with what to do about the nursery. We talk to Meredith about the baby in mommy’s tummy every day, but I don’t think she gets it yet. For me the most exciting part of our preparation so far is that we are getting new carpet. I can’t wait to be able to lay baby down on it without being grossed out, and I’m very excited about the inspiration it will bring me to fix up the bedrooms.

    Also: David and I booked a two-night getaway at a private cottage in an adorable town in the Texas Hill Country for our 5-year anniversary. The trip is happening at the beginning of November and it will be the first time I’m away from Meredith overnight, but I am just so excited about the trip that right now it’s overshadowing any type of anxiety about being apart from her. Soon we won’t have the chance to do this by ourselves for awhile so I’m glad we’re going for it!

  • quick takes / 16 weeks

    I’m trying out the seven quick takes linkup today since it’s an excuse to just post random stuff, which is what I’m doing lately anyway. Not sure if I’ll always have seven though, so let’s just skip that part.

    One

    I’m 16 weeks along in this pregnancy and I had a doctor’s appointment yesterday. Especially in these early months before I can really feel the baby move I always get a little nervous before checkups. Yesterday about gave me a panic attack too. The experienced MA (Jen) who I LOVE is leaving the practice and so she was training a temp, and so it was just me and the temp in the room. First she starts analyzing my urine results and is staring at it for a really long time. Finally she asks me, “you haven’t been having any spotting, have you?” as if she expected something to be wrong. So already I’m worried.

    Then she moved on to checking the heartbeat. She spent a whole minute (which seemed like forever) on the right side of  my belly and there was nothing. Then she moved to the left side and immediately we heard what I knew was my heartbeat, but I could tell she was confused. Apparently the rate on the machine was jumping around and eventually she said, “okay the rate is 175 that’s very good.” But I told her I didn’t hear that rate, all I heard was my own. We then looked at the machine together and the rate was mostly in the 80’s. No matter what she did we could not hear a baby heartbeat. Internally I was partly freaking out / partly preparing myself for terrible news & trying to be at peace with that / partly trying to convince myself it was just because she’s new. Finally after a million years Jen came in the room and immediately found the baby’s heartbeat, in the 140’s. Then she showed the temp how to do an ultrasound in case she’s having trouble finding the heartbeat and I got to see the little kid moving around like crazy and looking good. So! That was exciting.

    16 week photo:

    16 weeks

    Other than my scrubs for work I pretty much wear these shorts if I’m going out, lounge pants if I’m staying home, and a stretchy skirt (preferably maxi, but I only have two of them) to church. Choices are limited. I’m feeling great though.

    Two

    I promise all my takes won’t be as long as the last one. Anyway I made dinner again last night, so that’s twice in one week if any of you are keeping track. Huge accomplishment. I made these taco chicken bowls and I know it’s like slow cooker 101 but I was still proud that it turned out so delicious that my husband finished his bowl and my mother-in-law asked me for the recipe.

    Three

    Our house is one-story, about 2400 square feet. The front half has all real wood floors that I love, and the back half (a hallway and four bedrooms) is all nasty carpet that our dogs have torn up and stained. Pretty sure that I’ve whined and moaned about it here before, but it’s super embarrassing. So we are looking into tearing that up and replacing it. At first I thought we would just go all wood, but since I want it to look similar to the wood we already have I think that will be too expensive for us right now. So then we thought we’d do the hallway in wood and put new carpet in the bedrooms, and we’ll just keep the dogs out of there. My question for you is, have you ever put down wood floors or carpet? Where do I start looking for this stuff? What are the good companies to go to?

    Four

    I started thinking about a name for our second baby. Our anatomy scan is in three weeks so after we know the sex we’ll think about it more seriously, but I started looking at the social security website. I looked up the name “Meredith” and I was surprised to see that it keeps going down in popularity. Last year it was number 668! That’s so low. But it’s still traditional, and (in my opinion) very pretty, and it was a family name. Basically perfect. It’s going to be so hard to match that.

    Five

    I’m drinking coffee again! Like, for real! Hot coffee, in the morning. Every day. It’s sooooo great.

    Six

    I listen to a bunch of podcasts and at least four of them are book-related. This is making my “to-read” list extremely long. I truly mourn the fact that I will never be able to read everything I want to in this life. This isn’t a book blog and I know I post my quarterly round-ups of what I read, but I’m thinking of more thoroughly reviewing my monthly book club books because they aren’t necessarily things I’d pick up on my own. Will think on this.

    Seven

    Cheeks! She’s still got em.

    cheeks

  • pregnancy hormones in full effect

    So I cried at work yesterday. A lot. It was ugly. I tried to pull myself together in the bathroom but someone even came knocking on the door to make sure I was okay. And then I kept crying off and on for about an hour and just could not stop it. My mascara was gone and my eyes were puffy. I hope I didn’t scare anyone.

    The deal was, I had a rude patient. Rationally I knew that it was nothing personal to me (because I hadn’t done anything wrong and was nothing but nice) and I dug deep for sympathy and understanding because I know she is in a beyond stressful situation. Anything I told myself didn’t help though; I just kept crying. So embarrassing.

    Happy ending though! Today she emailed the doctor’s office and asked them to tell me that she thinks I’m an excellent nurse and she knows she gave me a hard time yesterday. It’s the closest to an apology I’m likely to get so I’ll take it.

    Also, last night I cooked dinner. Made BBQ beef taquitos and they were good. I also finally made the breakfast sandwiches I’d been meaning to and they were also good, so double win there. And I showered! And bathed Meredith! I am a domestic goddess!

    I need to switch subjects real quick because I am having a hard time with  my book club book, Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver and I just have to talk about it. The first problem I’m having is that I’ve been reading A Clash of Kings (which is the second in the Game of Thrones series) and I’m totally addicted to it and I’m to the last hundred pages and it’s fast-paced and all I want to do is finish it. So I’m kind of resentful of any book that interrupts that right now. Also, apparently this book is about climate change, and even if I was passionate about that subject I’m skeptical that it will make for an interesting story. Currently I’m only two chapters in and there’s been a lot about the difficulties of farming and I don’t know, it’s not grabbing me. And I have to finish it by Sunday! Sigh.

    Anyway. I go to the doctor for a checkup tomorrow. Praying that all is well in the baby department.

  • motherhood confessions

    I have made a lot of decisions as a mother just to make life easier on us as a family. As long as everyone’s safety is taken care of, pretty much anything else is flexible. Especially now that I’m expecting again, things have taken an even greater turn for the laid-back, usually in favor of a little more rest or sleep. I know I can’t be alone in this, so let me tell you about it.

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    Here’s a blurry picture of me in my post-work laziness, and Meredith copying me. Not pictured is her lack of pants or diaper. Can’t keep clothes on that girl.

    >Meredith doesn’t like bedtime and it’s hard to get her to wind down, so for awhile now we’ve been taking her on a drive almost every night to get her to fall asleep.

    >She still sleeps in bed with us, too. It’s been good, but I’m ready to move her out at least to make room for a new baby. But I really don’t know if it’s going to work. We had grand plans to transition her a couple weeks ago but it keeps not happening. We might just keep going with the family bed out of laziness.

    >She still nurses a lot too. There’s not much there, but she’s in a very needy stage and although a break sounds nice and I don’t mind the idea of weaning, I’m not going to force it. Tandem nursing a toddler and a newborn sounds overwhelming but it might just end up happening.

    >We don’t do baths very often. For myself I try to shower every other day but baths are hit or miss with Meredith (whether she’ll scream through it or play happily) so it’s more like I force it on her whenever her hair gets nasty enough and otherwise it’s spot cleaning only. I also usually just throw her in the shower with me.

    >When she first wakes up in the morning – on a work day while I’m getting ready or on a weekend when I’m trying to grasp a few more minutes of sleep – she immediately grabs my phone and I don’t even care how long she plays with it. Mostly she just likes to look through the peeshurs (pictures).

    >Speaking of screen time, we don’t limit it right now but that’s probably because she doesn’t have much interest in it. There is one show on Disney called Jessie that she really likes (for a few minutes anyway) but apart from that she’s not into it. I wish she would be.

    >There is no way I was giving up caffeine during this pregnancy. Coffee was immediately disgusting to me though (still sad about it) so I’ve been taking caffeine pills. Kinda pathetic.

    >I am also not super reliable about taking my vitamins. I’m trying though, really I am.

    >Let’s not even talk about food and the kinds of dinners we have around here right now. Or breakfasts. I figure at least Meredith eats pretty well at school.

    You guys, there is more. But I’m out of time. Please tell me: what are your parenthood confessions? Because I’m pretty sure that I’ll be able to relate.