March 2006

It’s been a rough past few months but I’ve made it. I’m officially over with the first trimester. Apparently, this is supposed to be a milestone since the second trimester usually marks the end to several well known nasty pregnancy side affects like morning sickness, fatigue, faintness, skin problems, etc. In fact, my doctor actually gave me an official date. Using his trusty little pregnancy calender February 23 was supposed to be the day I “started feeling more energetic and less sickly.” Unfortunately that prediction wasn’t as solid as I’d hoped. The nausea still lingers from time to time and I still can’t drag my butt out of bed in time to walk the dogs and do my run before work. And the skin problems are still very constant. Rashes on my on my back, chest and pimples all over my face. I keep looking in the mirror wondering when I’m supposed to get that “pregnancy glow” so many people talk about. Yes ladies, there is a lot about pregnancy not to like but the important thing to remember is that all of this nasty stuff happening to your body is happening because there’s a little life in your belly that only has nine months to figure out how to turn itself into a perfect little human being. That takes a lot of energy, nourishment and much to mommy’s dismay, plenty of hormones.
I had my second appointment with Dr. Miller last week. I got to listen to the baby’s heartbeat. It was a little scary at first because he couldn’t find it. He moved the scope all around my belly for at least two or three minutes, not saying a word, just staring at the wall and holding the speaker thingy up to his ear. I could hear my own heartbeat echoing in my stomach and this weird watery sound which I think he said later was the placenta. It got to the point where the gel dried up and he had to apply more. At this point I’m really starting to get nervous so I ask “is it usually this hard to find the heartbeat”. “Oh, yeah, especially if your bladder is full. Is your bladder full?”. Ah, dude, I’m three months pregnant. The question you should be asking is “when is your bladder not full”. Apparently, when the bladder’s full it pushes on everything and shifts it all around so the location of the baby isn’t in its normal place which is why he was having so much trouble. He ended up finding it somewhere down towards my pelvic bone. I’m happy to announce that our baby’s heart is thumping to a healthy tune of 140 beats per minute.
So, I’ve been complaining for several weeks about having all these nasty side affects from being pregnant but whenever I look in the mirror there’s nothing about me that actually looks pregnant. That all changed last week. All of a sudden, BAM! The pooch has made its presence. I still don’t actually look pregnant but there is a very noticable bump that at least makes me feel reassured that something is growing in there. Actually, it sort of looks more like I’ve been spending far too much time chowing at the Olive Garden but who cares! I have a belly full of baby!
Mike has been amazing about supporting me through all these changes. When I was at my worst he wrapped me in his arms and said the best three words every woman loves to hear from her husband. “Let’s go shopping!”. So, last week we headed to Tulsa and spent the morning perusing the aisles at Babys ‘R Us. We decided when we left that next time we go we should probably bring a more experienced individual, someone who has actually spent a significant amount of time taking care of babys, like, say, a mom. Mike and I honestly had no idea where to begin. Who would have known that there were so many different kinds of pacifiers to choose from. And do we really need a bassinet in addition to a baby bed?

Walking out of Wal-Mart, passing by an Ad for the upcoming release of the movie “Chicken Little”, Carleen makes the following comment:

There’s nothing like Animated Chickens.

Hmm, not sounding so funny out of context, but I laughed all the way back to the car.