Happy Days

We are really settling into our home now. It's nice to no longer be looking for a house or moving. I also started a new position with my company so my day to day work is much more suited to my strengths and what I enjoy doing. I am doing outreach and professional development. That said, I go to a lot of career fairs and do lots of trainings for our current employees. Its very me.

I am starting to really look pregnant and not just like I ate too much food. Its cool. It really just happened this week. We will have to post some pictures of me being pregnant.

I feel wonderful. I hate the 1st trimester. I was crying all of the time and exhausted. Now, I am so full of energy and feel like a sparkling diamond its wonderful. Gumbo is moving all of the time and that is fabulous. Its so sweet to feel a little kick when I am working on our budget at work, or giving a presentation. It feels like an inside joke, or like remembering a kiss. Its just such a sweet feeling of joy. I have my old energy back and am using it up riding bikes and walking. We went hiking last weekend and we did a very hard trail. I was so happy to be able to complete it. I'd like to try it again in the next few weeks - because its awesome.

I'm going to San Diego today for 5 days for the American Public Health Association Conference. Its a really cool conference, 30,000 people go, 1,000 booths in the expo, 20-40 presentations going on simultaneously. Its huge. I will be at the Chemonics booth for most of the time promoting our company and the health development work we do. I plan on going to a few presentations but also relaxing when I can.

We are collecting baby things more and more lately. We just got a "My Breast Friend" pillow from a listserv at Tom's work for $10! Those things are usually like $40-$50. We organized all of the baby things that we've received so far and are starting to think about what types of things we will want or need for little Gumbo. There is a bunch of stuff out there. Its nuts! Registering for our wedding was fun, because you can say "I like these dishes better than those" but for strollers and cribs and car seats you have to think about safety and how easy/hard they are to clean, durability. Its so much to think about. We will probably delay for another month or so. =)

We are starting Bradley classes in November to help us with the second part of that sentence. Overall we are so excited to know that we are having a boy, and looking forward to a smooth pregnancy and hopefully pain free childbirth (ha!).

Much love to you, kisses, hugs and more hugs. I like hugs.
Love, V

New Address

In case any of you need our new address. it's:

1619 Farragut Avenue
Rockville, MD 20851

IT'S A BOY!!!

So, we went to our ultrasound in the end of september with V's momma! It was very exciting except for the rather obtuse Ultrasound technician.baby turning way with hand on top of head

baby on back

baby on back with hand on face


...and the picture you've all been waiting for!


Proof of boyhood!

Moved In

So, Tom here. We are pretty much moved into our new house. Veronica is doing well. Getting rest and eating food. We have our Ultrasound on October 3. I took pictures of each room of our house with Veronica in it to reprise what Veronica's mom did when she had taken pictures of their place and a young Veronica was in almost every picture her mom took. Momma Averill- give us a picture of young Veronica and we'll post it.

So here are the pictures:Here is our kitchen
bathroom

office

guest room
living room

baby room
master bedroom

Charley Horse

I got an incredibly bad one last night. I haven't had such a bad one since I was doing track in high school. As I lay moaning and writhing in the middle of the night I thought, "I just ate a banana." Because I had eaten one just before bed.

This morning I checked the internet

• Leg Cramps (""Charley Horse''): As your baby grows and puts pressure on your lower body, your legs may not get enough blood. Leg cramps can develop when you are tired or not getting enough calcium in your diet.
• Try to rest often with your legs higher than your heart. Drink milk and eat yogurt and cheeses. Talk to your doctor about your diet. You may need to take daily calcium pills.

Ok, so its not even a banana issue, its a calcium issue. I am not having cravings, but I am sure having aversions to food, and cheese is one of them. It grosses me out, the smell, the meltyness. BUT last night I had a blizzard from DQ and I had rice with some grated Romano on it. So I'm not completely devoid of calcium.

It is also probably an issue of me sleeping on my back still. I hate sleeping on my side, I wake up every 50 minutes with a numb arm or a hip on the edge of needing replacement surgery. Sometimes, I even still sleep on my stomach, kind of propped sideways on a pillow so I'm not completely horizontal. Ugh, I don't know what is worse, a killer Charley horse or numb arms/broken hip every 50 min. Also, the little list of cures says to lay with your legs higher than your heart, the only way to do this is on your back- which is forbidden at this time. So, is that even a real remedy?

Also, about supplements for calcium. I get these little white spots on my face that look like white heads, but really they are "calcium deposits" and if I try to squeeze them, nothing happens. In the rare cases that I have been very aggressive with them, I find that I am left with a huge red pit on my face, and a hard little ball of white. Its like a little bone or tooth grew into my face. Whenever I take supplements of calcium, I get more of these, or the ones I have grow. I have one on my eyelid right now and its doubled in size since I've gotten pregnant. Does anyone else get these deposits? Especially anyone related to me?

Oh, and its nice that being "tired" is a cause too. What pregnant woman isn't tired?

With love and cramping,
V

Growing along

This week has been pretty good. I interviewed and was hired for a new position at my company. I will be moving down to HR. I will do some outreach, recruiting and mentoring to employees. I start October 6th, and am happy for the change.

Everyone at work pretty much knows I am pregnant and that is really nice. It was a secret there for so long, and it is so great to talk about there. Now when I am tired, people won't think I'm a lazy, whiny, crybaby. They will just think, "hey, she's pregnant." =)

I need to take some "bump" pictures for you guys and post them. So far, I'm not really showing, people are in shock when I tell them I am at 17 weeks. They are wondering where I am hiding it. I think it depends on what I am wearing. Some outfits make me want to hold it in, and some outfits make me want to push it out.

I'm eating well, balancing my dairy, protein, and veg intake and am feeling well enough to take my vitamins again. I'm super tired still, but I DID just move and have spent a number of "resting hours" not resting and unpacking instead. This week I've been trying to take it easy and unpack less.

No pain, no kicking, no nothing from the womb. I know the baby is growing because I am gaining weight finally. I can feel my uterus is right under my bellybutton. I hope the scale doesn't go too high, but I know it doesn't really matter as long as the baby and I are healthy.

Tom is still handling me quite well. I don't know if I could handle being pregnant without him. I really wonder about women who are pregnant and single, or only have a quasi-supportive partner. How do they do it? There is no way I could do this without Tom. Thank you sweetheart.

Finally, I think both of us are getting over the stress of moving. We are trying to relax and just be happy in the evenings. Our house is almost unpacked. We are having a housewarming party on September 27th. Come on by!


Love, V

A happy day.

We moved into our house this past weekend. It was a tremendous effort but we had so much help from Tom's work friends and Andrea and Jake. Andrea packed our kitchen in the old house, brought it to the new house, and unpacked it there. It is the only thing that is unpacked so far. HUGE THANK YOU to all of our helpers that day!

We are now working on clearing out the old house and unpacking into the new one. This weekend we will do final cleaning at old house. Aunt Mary and Cousin Christy said they would help, so I hope they do! =)

Today was a happy day because I told my boss I was pregnant. She was very happy for me. Then I told her I was leaving my position, she was not mad, and showed no sign of shock. She even supported me moving to a different position in the same company. HUGE SIGH OF RELIEF. I thought she would yell at me, and that I would cry. I'm glad it didn't happen that way. Sometime soon I will have to tell my bigger boss, I hope it goes as well.

I think with the change of job I will really begin to enjoy being pregnant. The stress of my job has put a huge damper on my happiness since becoming a vessel for this new life. I am starting to show and am even wearing some maternity pants because, they are just so comfortable.

I had a lot of pain this Sunday in my abdomen around my uterus. Tom and I were really scared and thought it could be something bad, but I tried to relax and see if it got worse. It was really bad at times. My mom said that maybe it was gas, and I should wait and see. A few hours later, I started farting and the pain went away. I'm really glad it was just gas. =) I know that as the baby gets bigger things like this will happen more and more. I am not looking forward to it, but hopefully it will prepare me for the pain of childbirth. Probably not.

I love you all, thank you for your continued support and advice!
Love, V & Tom