HDBD Stall Tactic

Well, the Hump-Day-Bump-Day shirt has gone missing. Who knows where it is. So even though I KNOW you tuned in to see the bump get just another stage larger, you will have to settle for my ramblings...

I realized yesterday how much we still have to learn. This was the big ultrasound and our biggest fear going into it was that we would accidently find out the gender, since we have officially decided not to find out (that it is a boy to be named Boaz). "Overheard on the Street" would have done good to hang out at our Doc's office with us....

Tech: See that big black void? That is the bladder.
Amanda: That explains a LOT!
(Don and technician exchange a puzzled look)
Amanda (obviously feeling bad for us not understanding): You know cause I have to pee ALL the time.
Don: Honey, that's the Baby's bladder....
Amanda: Ohhhhhhh

She is a cutie but she and I have lots to learn. Later back in the waiting room...

Don: He was flailing his arms and legs but just wouldn't flip over.
Amanda: She
Don: He
Amanda: She
Don (muffled whisper): he
Stranger next to us chuckles and draws our attention.
Stranger: Sorry, that just sounds all too familiar!

So I guess many couples argue about such things. Truthfully I want to be able to call Baby something other than Baby. Maybe it is my deep disdain for Dirty Dancing. Who knows. And "he" just has a nice ring to it. Well, only 4 more months and we will know for sure!

Stay tuned - hump day bump day photo will come late tonight. I actually have a date with that hot pregnant woman I live with.

The "Big" Ultrasound

We had our "big" ultrasound this morning.  This is the one where doc and the tech were supposed to be able to see everything that was going on with Baby and my uterus/placenta/other relevant organs/parts.

At first, Baby was moving, kicking and practically somersaulting up a storm!  It was so cool to see all that movement because I'm still not really feeling that much - it's wonderful reassurance that we're on track and everything is progressing happily.

However, after we got going and got a few of the key measurements and pictures in, Baby decided to settle down... face down... and stay there.  It's good to know that Baby is already a lot like Momma - stubborn.  Baby wouldn't move for anything.  We even took a little break where I got up and moved around - did some jumping jacks, toe touches, side bends... heck!  I even had an impromptu dance party of just me and Baby!  But no - nothing except kicking legs and pushing arms around.  {sigh}
Doc said that we have to come back in two weeks to try again because they're still missing vital information.

At any rate - here's the few pics that were able to get at this photo shoot (aka ultrasound).  Enjoy!

My favorite is the little foot (second from the top)...

Ultrasounds are awesome... and a funny story

The "big" ultrasound is tomorrow.  Yep - this is theeee big appointment that we've been waiting for for almost two months now!  I'm SO EXCITED!!!  This little photo shoot is where doc checks out how Baby is developing and looks for all kinds of that fun developmental stuff.  Have I told you how excited I am for this appointment?  If you're the praying type, pray for all kind of good news.  {thank you!}

No - we're still not going to find out if Baby is a boy or a girl - but along those lines I have a fairly humorous story to share that happened at work.  Because some co-workers may read this, I'm leaving it anonymous.  This seriously happened...

Other person: (while swatting at my growing belly) What's that?

Me: um - a Baby.

Other person: I know that!  I mean "WHAT IS IT?"

Me: Do you mean, "is it a boy or a girl?"

Other person: YEAH! 

Me: Well, we've decided not to find out.

Other person: Well - that's your choice.

Me: Um yes, you're right - it is.

That's right - I can't make this stuff up, people.  It's very "office-esque" isn't it?  Awkward...

so much to do...

the excitement of becoming a mother is starting to turn into anxiety over everything that we have to do to prepare for Baby.  and when i say "everything", I really mean it.

up to this point, the only thing we've done is make our monthly checkup appointments and watch me get bigger.  Oh- i also take my vitamins every day.  But that's it. 

Last weekend, Don and I took a test called Strengthsfinder 2.0 by the Gallup peoples.  Anyway - it confirmed a lot of what I already knew to be true - and that is: I'm strong at developing relationships with people, but I usually lack vision.  It also revealed to me what I previously did not know - Don is also a relationship builder and not so much into planning for the future...  that one was quite a bit of surprise for me.

Now this isn't to say that we NEVER plan, but just that our natural tendencies don't fall that way so much.  Now - point being, because I know this is something to we need to focus on in order to make happen, I'm blogging about this for a little bit of accountability. 

Here are some things that we need to start working on in the Bratschie house:

• Nursery area
• register for classes at the hospital
• register for baby things

Also - if you know the layout of our place, or if you just happen to be an interior designer - we need some serious help planning out our nursery area.  You can consider this an official cry for help.  ;)

19 Weeks!

As of yesterday, Baby is at 19 weeks.  WOW.  I can't believe it's already 19!  One more week and we'll be at 5 months!  This seems like it's going by so quickly!

According to our babycenter.com email, Baby is approximately 8.5 ounces and measure about 6 inches from head to rump - or, in produce terms, is as long as a large heirloom tomato.  Because "large heirloom tomato" is quite vague, I'm including the official picture again.  Here it goes:

Again - use the quarter for comparison.   Because of the latest produce comparison, Don has enlightened me that a heirloom tomato merely means that the tomato is not a hybrid, but a pure tomato.  So - the quarter is even more helpful than I thought... (here's the wikipedia article for anyone that might be a doubter out there: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heirloom_tomato).

Hump Day Bump Day! (10/21)

Week 18! - Bell Pepper

Baby is about the length of a bell pepper this week (5.5 inches long).  Wow!  This little one is growing FAST!  The gender organs are also developed at this point too - but no, we're still not going to find out if it's a Brat-he or a Brat-she. (HA!  Get it?  A play on our last name?!  I'm so funny!)

Anyway - I included this babycenter.com picture to help anyone who may not know what size bell pepper these peeps are comparing Baby to.  It might help to use the quarter for comparison...

Enjoy!

Hump Day Bump Day! (10/14)

Preggos are EVERYWHERE!

In case you've been under a rock for the past 6 months or so, I feel I should come right out and say it.  "Everyone is pregnant".  This is, of course, a slight exaggeration, but I assure you - not by much.  It might be more like 1 out of 3.

I run into other preggos everywhere.  Everywhere except work, that is.  I'm definitely the only one there - at least the only one that's been "outed".  And now I'm so big that I couldn't hide it even if I wanted to (which I don't).

But back to my first point - preggos are everywhere.  Maybe it's just Chicago... but I'm not so sure.  I think it's a National epidemic.  When we picked up my prenatal vitamins, the pharmacist said "been fillin' a lot of these lately".  Um yeah - that's your job.  And I heard the hospital where I'm supposed to deliver Baby has broken the 'birthing record' every month for the past few months - meaning they birth a record number of babies every month than from the month before.  Wow!  That's a lot of babies!

You have to wonder - why all the babies?  I heard someone mention snarkily that it was the recession to blame.  I'm not sure about all that.  It really didn't have a lot to do with our Baby - Don and I are both employed full-time and hadn't really stopped going out when Baby came to be.  I heard another theory that it's the boomlet's having babies.  That's right - that Baby Boomer's kids are now having kids.  That makes a little more sense to me - but what really explains this?

I guess it doesn't really matter in the long run - but it's great for those like me and the preggos coming after us - we've going to have so much maternity clothes for them to borrow/buy from consignment shops!  Speaking of consignment shops - I heard a recommendation for a great kid's clothes/maternity wear consignment shop in Chicago - called The Second Child.  I'll have to check it out and write a review. 

In the meantime - i'll leave you with my deep thought for the day - "preggos are everwhere".  Except my apartment.  I'm the only one in here right now...

How am I feeling?

I'm asked this question probably more than any other question.  Well - how am I feeling?  Honestly - it depends on when you catch me.  I'm almost always nauseous first thing in the morning - at least until I get a little something in my stomach.  My personal theory is that the blood sugars get thrown way off when my stomach is empty and that's what leaves me feeling queasy.  Of course, it could just be tiny unicorns in my belly poking holes in the lining of my quease-barrier...

Besides that "I'm-about-to-puke-but-only-in-the-morning" business, I'm feeling great! Well, that and I've been learning lately that I actually have to schedule in down time every once and again.  Or have a series of mental breakdowns.  Whichever.

We have such a full schedule all the time.  I'm so used to it that I don't stop to think if I've rested enough - or thought about nothing in particular enough.   Or even built time into our schedule to do laundry enough.  And it really only seems to be catching up to me lately - there have been a couple of days in the past week or two that were particularly rough.  When I got home at the end of the day, I kicked off my shoes and went straight to sleep - barely even saying "hi" or "good night" to Don.  Poor guy.  So, yes - I'm queasy in the morning and I'm learning to slow down and work some downtime in my life now.  And that's how I'm feeling. 

17 Weeks - TURNIPS!

As of yesterday, Baby is 17 weeks and  I still haven't felt any kicks or flutters (although I wasn't sure if maybe I felt it last night... could've been indigestion).

According to my weekly babycenter email, Baby's skeleton is changing from soft cartilage to hard bone.  Seems like good timing for Halloween, no?  ;)   And now Baby weighs roughly 5 ounces - the size of a turnip.  YAY for turnips!

 I don't even know of what we can make with a turnip though - anyone got any good turnip recipes?

Hump Day Bump Day! (10/7)

Finally!  The long-awaited HDBD photo!

Enjoy!

HDBD - later today...

Greetings, loyal readers!  The HDBD photo will need to be posted this evening.  I'm having a heckuva time tracking down the official photo pants.

Stay tuned!  I'll post later...

Baby, It's Cold Outside...

but the dark is what's going to keep me in.  My workout buddy and I decided to move our morning walks indoors to the gym now that it's getting darker outside in the morning.

As you might be able to tell from the picture I took this morning, it's still gorgeous even thought it's dark out now.  The sunrise was, well... "wow"!  Or as my dad might say, "breathtaking and beautiful".  But in spite of the beauty, it's still very dark and there's not nearly as many people out in the morning anymore - it just kind of makes for a less safe feeling walk.  (Hence the move indoors).

I think it's going to be okay though because we already decided to start incorporating light hand weights into our time at the gym - maybe get some toning in our upper bodies to match the toning I see in my legs from carrying around all this extra weight in my belly. 

16 Weeks! And Babies are Really Just Produce...

Baby is 16 weeks (4 months) as of yesterday.  Wow.  We're almost halfway through this pregnancy thing.

According to our Babycenter email - Baby is roughly the size of an avocado and is growing toenails, among other things.  The first thing I thought when I read that was, "Getting toenails is the first step to pedicures - YAY!"  (If Baby is a girl, that is - not that boys don't get pedicures, but they don't usually talk about it).

The second thing I thought was "what size avocado?"  Out of pure coincidence, we made guacamole last night - yeah, I guess that's a little sick in retrospect but take heart in knowing that it wasn't planned.  Of course, now we might actually try to work whatever produce item Baby is currently the size of into our menu.  I kind of think that would be funny.  Anyway - we used 5 avocadoes and they were all such different sizes!

So - back to this idea of Baby being the size of produce - Babycenter has this slideshow that compares Baby's development every week to a 'common' produce item - to help give people a better idea of how big their baby is getting.  (As if a giant belly wasn't enough of an idea)...
They have everything from a sesame seed to a pumpkin.  That's right - a pumpkin.  

The key to note here is that the growing baby is like this produce item in some way, usually weight or length.  Otherwise, some of these don't make sense - like an ear of corn at week 24?  I can hear it now "What?  My baby is like an ear of corn right now?  NO WONDER I'm uncomfortable!"

Alcohol-removed Wine?!

I was watching Food Network the other day when I saw a bit about these wines (below).  They're "alcohol-removed" wines.  The brand is fre (http://www.frewines.com/) and they're made by Sutter Home.  The wine is made like normal, and then the alcohol is removed afterward via some fun, secret spinning cone method.  Interesting.

We had some close friends over last night for Don's birthday (which is today) and decided to get a couple of bottles to try out.  And it was good.   We had the Chardonnay last night.  It smelled exactly like a Chardonnay wine and my mouth watered.  Even though it tasted complex and fruity and oaky and delicious, it didn't quite taste like anything I'd ever had before.  It was very similar to wine - but almost like a grape juice - but not.  I guess I'm not doing a very good job of explaining it here...

But just know - for those of us that are choosing not to drink alcohol - for whatever reason - there's a good alternative out there.  It's yummy and will fill that "wine-shaped hole" in your palette.

Latest Checkup - 10/1

We had our monthly checkup yesterday morning.  It was what they call a "belly check".   I just go in, pee in a cup (they check it for potential problems), get weighed (up a few pounds from last month), and wait for the doc to come in and make sure Baby and I are doing great.

This time we had Dr. Chen.  He was quite personable and very funny.  He commended me on using the old hairtie-wrapped-around-the-button-hole trick.  And then - he pulled out this special "heartbeat listening" device so that we could hear Baby's heartbeat!

The first heartbeat we heard while that thing was on my belly was my own.  lub. lub. lub.  We heard my heartbeat through my belly - cool.  Doc found Baby's heartbeat shortly after that.  Baby's heartbeat was much quicker and not quite as loud - Doc guestimated Baby's heartbeat at 140 beats per minute!  Wow, that's quick!  :)

Then, to top it all off - I got my first ever flu shot!  Yay for parental preparedness!  :)  But - my arm is still sore.  :(