Fun Pregnancy Conversations...

So, Don and I were at the Target on Roosevelt over the weekend, picking up some last minute baby things.  We were able to find most of what we still needed, like a crib sheet, a changing pad and even some more toilet paper (gotta stock up, you know?).

Anyway - while we were checking out, the cashier asked us if we were shopping for our own baby - we said yes.  She asked "how many months are you?"

"Nine," I replied.

Without hesitating she said, "Please don't have your baby in this store".

I literally laughed out loud.  I think she was joking - at least kind of joking.  It doesn't even make sense to me that I would be going to Target (especially with someone who could so obviously go without me if we really needed something) or that I would be going ANYWHERE for that matter if I was already far along into labor, with the exception of the hospital, of course.  Unless it was maybe to grab some sushi - it's been 9 months, people!

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...

Letting Baby be just a baby...

For awhile now, Don and I have gone back and forth about whether we want to find out if Baby is a boy or a girl.  Don doesn't want to know until Baby is born - but at first I did want to know - ASAP.  Of course, we don't even have the option of finding out until the end of October - when baby is about 5 months into formation.  That's when they do the "fun" ultrasound - otherwise known as the "privates-seeking-ultrasound".

There are many many reasons for both sides of this particular argument and neither side is right or wrong.  So it just kind of comes down to - what do WE REALLY want?  Do we want to know - or would we rather just let it happen?

After thinking about it a lot, I've decided that for me, the only real benefit to knowing is being able to bond more by calling Baby by name sooner, while Baby is still in the womb.  However, there seem to be a lot of benefits to waiting.  One - people have done it that way forever and it would be neat to do it the way our folks and their folks and their folk's folks did it - (but this is kind of weak.  Mostly because if we have this available to us, why not use it?)  And sometime ultrasounds can be wrong anyway (even though that's not nearly as common anymore with the advancements in today's technology).  But the best one yet, is that I would end up buying the stuff that we really need for Baby, like diapers and cribs and strollers, instead of the super-cute baby clothes that I see all the time at the store when shopping for maternity gear - or even when just shopping for toilet paper and detergent.  Who can pass up buying cute baby clothes?  Not me.  Seriously. 

So - back to my point.  After much consideration, we've decided to wait and not find out if Baby is a he-male or a she-male.  We'll give Baby these few extra months in the womb to just be our baby and we don't have to worry about pink or blue.  The time will come when Baby will join us here on the outside of my body and then we'll all know.  And besides - I can use cute little nicknames for Baby and bond, bond, bond our prenatal time away.

Btw - 'm pretty sure that Baby is a girl and Don is pretty sure that Baby is a boy - so until Baby gets here, I guess we'll just be arguing at dinner parties over Baby's gender - unless Doc slips up at one of our many, many office visits in the upcoming months...

Maternity Pillows!

For those of you that don't know - when you go to try on Maternity clothes, most stores offer a small, baby-belly shaped pillow to try clothes on with - it's a great way to see what the clothes might look like after you get unbelievably huge (read "in your third trimester").

This fun little tool was brand new to me - the first time I was aware that this thing really existed was last week.  But it only took one use for me to see how helpful this could be.  Although I have no idea if I'm going to carry low - or high, I do know that when I'm much bigger the clothes i'm trying on will still fit like they're supposed to.  (ie - dresses won't magically become mini-skirts, etc.)

The belly pillow itself looks strange.  It's just this lump of pillow that wraps around Velcros in place around your waste.  It's kind of lumpy under clothes too - but how else are you going to simulate how you might look at 8 months?

Here are some pictures - of the belly pillow and me trying on a dress with the belly pillow.  That's right, peeps.  I'm going to get HUGE.

 

 

Fun things about pregnancy...

There are many things about pregnancy that aren't fun.  I've experienced quite a few of them so far.  "Morning" sickness/nausea  (which lasts all day), crazy horrible heartburn that only smoothie-flavored Tums can cure, getting up 3 times in the middle of the night every night just to pee... 

But I'm finding that there are some really fun things about being pregnant too: being required to eat lots of calories (well-balanced, of course) and the cream of the crop - new clothes!  Of course, a lot of the "new" clothes, are really just new to me - but who cares?  They're so cute!  (My sister, Renee, let me borrow a bunch of clothes that she used when she was pregnant. Thanks, Renee!)

It's tricky because I'm not big enough to require actual maternity clothes yet - and probably won't be until at least 2-3 more months, but I'm starting to stress out some of my buttons...  I learned some tricks for extending waistlines during pregnancy involving hair ties and another trick with something called a belly band - which should work for at least a little while longer - but what do I do when those don't really work anymore?

Seriously - what's a girl with an ever-growing belly to do about this?  Go shopping, that's what.  This girl is on a serious budget, so I'm hitting an outlet mall and some clearance racks with Momma Mags this weekend while Don is sailing the Tri-State. 

And that, friends and loved ones, is a fun part of pregnancy.  :)