Doctor says no to sex.

So, we were not able to find out the sex of Gumbo on Big Thursday. We will have to wait 5 more weeks until I am 20 weeks along. Then we will have to go to some super awesome sonogram machine place. I hear this is standard. Its a bummer. Thinking that we would find out on Thursday really kept us going. We are ok with it. The sex will still be a surprise, and now we have more time to imagine and dream about our baby girl/boy.

We bought the house! We are really happy. It will be nice to clean and garden this weekend at the new house, and begin moving the following weekend.

I am not showing yet, but definitely not wearing my "skinny jeans" anymore. I'm also moving up to clothes that fit me when I was heavier a few years ago. I've gained 5 lbs overall, doctor says it is fine, she wants me to eat more dairy and exercise more. I think I can handle it.

Love, V and Tom.

BIG THURSDAY

It is Wednesday night.
Tomorrow is Big Thursday.

We have our Dr. Appt at 9:30 tomorrow morning.
We are hoping to find out the sex of Gumbo. At that point we might give Gumbo a sex based name. Our top names are Dixie and Jaques =)

At 1pm, we meet with the Realtor to do the final walk through, and at 2pm we sit down in the title office to buy our house.

We are nervous, anxious and scared and excited and exhausted. We hope that everything goes well and we aren't duped or tricked into anything. We are starting to understand how the foreclosure crisis happened. We are really well educated, smart, careful people and we STILL don't really understand everything that is happening.

Oh well, tomorrow night we will have the house and hopefully rest (or excited talking all night long!)

Update you tomorrow or sometime in the near future!

Love, V and Tom

Nothing going on...

So its week 13.5.
I didn't write last weekend, sorry Mom. =)

I'm feeling fine, this week I am still tired and need lots of sleep. I think Gumbo had a growth spurt on Tuesday because I ate like a madwoman all day long. My gums got swollen this week. I counteracted this by brushing, listerine-ing, flossing, listerine-ing again. It took a few days, but its gone down. I also have been chewing lots of gum, just to keep my gums clean all day. Ice Breakers makes a gum called Ice Cubes that is really yummy. It has Xylatol in it. In Finland, they put Xylatol in everything, and supplement it for pregnant woman just to keep their gums from getting swollen. A coworker (LM) told me this, and its funny because I had been chewing it because it made me less nauseated, took away headaches, made my gums feel better and tasted good. (They sell it at Target).

Katie A. (sister-in-law via Brother Stephen) sent us another shipment of baby things, so we have quite a collection of toys, and some shoes and a diaper bag already! I am really excited about unpacking these things in the baby room in our new house!!!

Andrea and Monica (sister-in-laws via Tom) have given me quite a supply of maternity clothes, so I might not have to get much in that department either.

I'm not showing yet, but I think I stopped holding my stomach in as much, and when I eat, I push it out really far- because it feels good! =)

I am meeting with HR people at my work in the upcoming weeks to see how/when to tell my boss about the baby. Recently my boss said, "... everyone is pregnant, its like an epidemic" I know she was joking, but in Public Health, an epidemic is a bad thing... so I hope she isn't mean about Gumbo.

House update: we are closing on the house in exactly one week. Thursday, August 28th is the closing date. Last week we got word that Radon levels were high in the house. They are doing some Radon remediation right now, and will re-check levels before closing.

I have been changing utility bills, and this is pretty much the only thing I have done to contribute to house buying. Tom has amazingly handled almost everything. Its cool to be married, sometimes you get stuff (like a house!) but don't have to do much! Its pretty awesome. (or maybe this only happens when you are married to Tom- hands off ladies).

I don't know if they want to be "outed" but here is a list of other people in my life that are also gestating right now: Craig and Christina Baker #2 (due Nov) Josh and Ashley Brumfield#1 (due Jan) Katie and Brian #1 (due March) Shanti and Ravi #2 (due March). It is really exciting to have so many people to share the joy, wonders, and frustrations of pregnancy with.

I'd also like to thank Andrea and Monica for their advice and support. They both gave birth this past winter/spring (Feb/March) and have been giving good advice, helping me understand what is coming next, which medical test I'll have to take, etc. I know they make baby book, but sometimes, What to Expect When you are Expecting is too general for me. For example, I have no need for the questions on "how chlamydia affects your pregnancy" or "how to quit smoking" "should I color my hair" or "what to do when you work with toxic chemicals". There's nothing like a person to answer all of your questions.

Love, Veronica (and Tom loves you guys too!)

12 weeks! YAY!

So this weekend makes me 12 weeks along and 10 weeks gestational age.
I've passed the critical time frame. OF course, I have a whole life of worry ahead of me, but it is great to know that we've made it this far. =)
Our 12 week check-up will actually happen around 15 weeks due to scheduling issues/avaliblity of the doctor's office.
We got a spot at BirthCare, for our birth in February. We will go in for an orientation in September, but we haven't completely made up our minds yet if we will use them. I think how we give birth will depend on how the pregnancy goes and the position the baby is in when I go into labor. BirthCare is where Andrea gave birth last February. She did it with a midwife in a birth center. Tom and I are considering a home birth, depending of course on what I said above, where the baby is positioned and how the pregnancy progresses.

This week I feel that I am gaining more energy and starting to feel better, I sometimes have bursts of icky nausea, but I try to keep my blood sugar steady and stay away from things that might bother me (like smelly vitamins).

The big news this week is that we are buying a house!!! AHHH! Our home inspection is Saturday (tomorrow) if all goes well, the house is ours. It is cuter from the inside, but here is an outside picture!
Our fiend Adam got married this past weekend. Here is a picture of Tom and I at the wedding, and a picture of Adam and his bride!We did one more thing last weekend, its kinda dorky, but we took some pictures of Tom and I in our wedding clothes. Tom had rented a tux because he was in the wedding, and our friend Christina is an amazing photographer. So we took some more pictures. We never took any pictures of just Tom and I in our wedding clothes, all of our pics were with friends, family or wedding party. I realize many couples take pictures after their wedding, but they usually don't wait 2.5 years. Well, we did. We didn't even think about it until a year later, then we were moving, and things got busy and stuff like that. So this weekend we went ahead and took some more pics. Here is one of me and Tom at a park. =) I look pretty good for 3 months pregnant!

I'm starting to "feel pregnant" and poochy. Some of my clothes are no longer comfortable, but everything still fits. Its almost a good thing I gained weight a few years ago and then lost it. I have bunches of clothes that fit me in many sizes. Monica, one of Tom's sisters, gave me her pregnancy clothes, and Andrea, Tom's other sister, has a box for me. I'll be pretty set in the clothing department for a while. =)

Hope this updates you pretty well. WE love you and are happy you are part of our lives!
Love, V & Tom.

Crazy Week

Sunday, Monday and Tuesday I had morning sickness, or all day sickness. No actual puking, but generally feeling like it would happen at all times.
This makes work really bad.

Wednesday (today) I was great, with renewed energy and very good feeling.

Today, we also wrote a contract and put a bid on a house. We will let you know what happens! OMG! Life is so exciting!
We are also going to a wedding in Wisconsin this weekend.

Week 10

Now we are in week 10. We are beginning to really feel great about being pregnant. I am starting to tell people. It is really fun!
This week Gumbo is the size of a small plum. very cool.


Symptoms:
tired - but getting more energy.

hungry for the first time in ages, I am eating ALL of the time. I take this as a good sign.

highly emotional- I cry a lot, but it feels good, so its ok.

in love- I am trying to make an effort to strenghten my home life. I don't really like my job right now, so I am trying to make home a haven. I have no cause to fight, or be mad or frustrated at home. I am so happy to have such a loving spouse. Even if we want to fight or yell, our heart isn't in it. I see this as a good thing. (we are pretty happy, even when fighting, our disagreements aren't cause for alarm, faithful readers). I think we will have a very happy home in the future, by making it so in the present.


About the birthing post, this week has been very revealing. We thank you for your feedback, many people emailed me about their experiences. We have a dr. appt on August.... 2_? so we will talk to the doctor about our options.
We know that we have full insurance coverage for whatever we choose and that is a happy, freeing thing to know.

Have a good week. Love, V

Business of Being Born

Last night we watched the Business of Being Born. It is a documentary about the birth industry in hospitals vs. home birth with a midwife.



The movie
1. frightened me
2. made me cry at least 3 times
3. has prompted some interesting conversation in our home about where/how to have our baby.
4. made me dream all night long about giving birth

We know a number of people who have had natural childbirths, or at least tried to. Bradley method seems good. Geez, it is really scary to have a baby. I thought that an epidural would make the pain go away, but apparently it slows the laboring, so you need pitocin to speed it up, which increases pain, which means you need more epidural which slows down labor.. its a vicious cycle.

This was in the movie, but scientist that I am, I looked it all up and ITS TRUE!

We have a lot to think about.

I think the worst thing to think about is being in a hospital with a "normal low-risk" delivery, but feeling vulnerability because you are pressured or frightened by your birth process (which is normal) and then having a physician or nurse exploit that vulnerability.

I was there when Andrea gave birth and it was really intense and scared me a little bit. She was said that if she had been in a hospital she would have taken the epidural when offered. BUT when it was all over and Sophia safely delivered, she said she was really happy that she did it that way, and it was just like she wanted.

My mom delivered us naturally in a hospital and reports that it was great. Andrea was happy with her natural delivery in a birth center. C&C prepared for natural in a hospital, but baby was breach and she had to have a C-section.

My grandmother doesn't remember her births because they just knocked her out. She said it was great, I used to think this sounded wonderful. Then I saw this movie and learned that she wasn't knocked out, she just didn't remember it because she had "night terror" or something like that. They used to tie the women up because they would scratch and claw themselves from the pain, they were completely unaware of their surroundings and what was happening. They would tie women up with lambswool because it didn't leave marks and the husbands wouldn't question what was going on. This does not sound wonderful, it sounds horrible.

In many ways, I wish I had not watched this movie, and in many ways I am so glad I did. I think that whatever we decide with be both horrible and wonderful. I know that memory blocks out bad and painful things. I know that there will a flood of happiness at the end which will make it ok. I just hope that all of the oxytocin makes me forget the whole thing except for the good parts.

I know that a number of different people will eventually read this and I'd like to hear what you think, what your experiences have been, and stuff like that. Thanks.