Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Summertime pics
here are some pics of summertime with rani. it's been a blast! the entry is below the pictures.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
My little mango
this little boy growing inside me is 23 utero weeks old and supposedly has a sense of movement that's well enough developed that he can feel me dance. that is really unfortunate for him. he's more than 11 inches long and weighs just over a pound, which is the size of a large mango (and the amount of lasagna i ate last night). he can hear now, and i'm sure what he hears most loudly is rani. she's always saying things like "baby kick" and "baby kiss", which are very cute, but these are interspersed between the more vociferous "no rice!!!" and "bicycle!!!" and when he hears her, he kicks. i said it before and i'll say it again, this boy is a ridiculously strong kicker. what the heck, he's the size of a mango! how can he kick so hard?? lately he starts around 4 pm and goes till midnight, which cuts down my cinnamon bun sleep time to about 6 hours total.
i started with my new OB in milwaukee, someone i chose randomly from the providers' website. my criteria: female. no offense to male OBs, but the thought of a guy being so personal is just kind of weird. she was friendly and approachable, and unlike in chicago, there was absolutely no wait time at the clinic, which i forgot was even an option. there was free valet parking and the staff were super nice. really? what was the catch? i found out...apparently the hospital i'll be delivering at is the hospital version of motel 6 in regards to aesthetics. it's got the best nicu and emergency services in the downtown area, but instead of rothkos on the wall, it has disproportionate seagulls; instead of mahogany banisters, it's got light colored laminate plastic. all of which i'm fine with as long as i don't have to deliver in a triage room like i did last time when the other fancy-schmancy hospital was full. i even worked there as a resident at one point! hmph.
so now for the news all my girlfriends are going to be secretly ecstatic to hear: at this halfway point i've already gained the amount of weight i gained in my entire last pregnancy. sixteen pounds. and counting. if i keep on track and gain a pound a week, i'll be up 33 pounds by the end. i might actually have to start working out after this delivery. then again...a toddler, a newborn, looking for a new house, and going back to work? i think that might do the job for me.
i started with my new OB in milwaukee, someone i chose randomly from the providers' website. my criteria: female. no offense to male OBs, but the thought of a guy being so personal is just kind of weird. she was friendly and approachable, and unlike in chicago, there was absolutely no wait time at the clinic, which i forgot was even an option. there was free valet parking and the staff were super nice. really? what was the catch? i found out...apparently the hospital i'll be delivering at is the hospital version of motel 6 in regards to aesthetics. it's got the best nicu and emergency services in the downtown area, but instead of rothkos on the wall, it has disproportionate seagulls; instead of mahogany banisters, it's got light colored laminate plastic. all of which i'm fine with as long as i don't have to deliver in a triage room like i did last time when the other fancy-schmancy hospital was full. i even worked there as a resident at one point! hmph.
so now for the news all my girlfriends are going to be secretly ecstatic to hear: at this halfway point i've already gained the amount of weight i gained in my entire last pregnancy. sixteen pounds. and counting. if i keep on track and gain a pound a week, i'll be up 33 pounds by the end. i might actually have to start working out after this delivery. then again...a toddler, a newborn, looking for a new house, and going back to work? i think that might do the job for me.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
20 weeks
here's a prego pic and a 3D ultrasound at 20 weeks. it's so odd--we're looking at BT's face, the one i won't see in person for another five months! he looks like rups to me. shouldn't at least one of my kids look like me???
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Halfway there!!
well, technically, last week was halfway at 20 weeks, but as the recent move from chicago to milwaukee usurped all our free time and energy (along with my surreptitious speedreading of the twilight series), i am writing this as i start my 21st week. BT (baby tony's blog nickname, because tony must not stick) weighs about three-quarters of a pound and is approximately 10.5 inches long — the length of a carrot. he was a poppy seed at 4 weeks, a kidney bean at 8 weeks, a lime at 12 weeks and an avocado at 16 weeks. and now he's a carrot. i guess food is the universal standard of measurement, even in medicine (cherry hemangiomas, adam's apples, popcorn calcifications, cauliflower ears--you get the picture).
he is a real kicker, too. just this year i got into the world cup, despite living in manchester, england in 1999 when manchester united won the european cup. let me just say, this boy is going to be a striker. i received dubious looks when i said i could feel him kick at 14 weeks, but he seriously is practicing to be a soccer player already. rups felt him kick for the first time last week, and just like with rani, his whole face just lit up. even rani runs over to my stomach and says "baby kick". of course i exaggerate the kick immensely (or even sometimes make them up) for her pleasure. just like rani, he also likes to kick mostly at night. i was afraid after the first pregnancy that she'd have day-night confusion and be up all night, but she's been a fantastic sleeper, so i don't think kicking habits are that predictive of sleeping patterns.
right on cue, this is the time in my pregnancies that i forget i'm pregnant. there are no more weird cravings, no food or smell aversions, no midday exhaustion, i'm not big enough to need help getting off the couch, and i can still carry rani easily. people are becoming slightly more comfortable asking if i'm pregnant, but there's still that hesitant pause right before they ask while they think, "but what if she's not? then i'm just an ass." there's still some difficulty finding a good position to sleep in, but i've dug up the enormous cinnamon bun pregnancy pillow that oddly enough contorts my body into a comfortable position long enough for me at get at least 4 hours straight.
one thing we've been thinking about more are names. girl names were so easy, but we are stumped on boy names. we have one tentative name picked out, but this is my invitation to you guys to send in recommendations. nothing outlandish, and nothing that will mark my son as a laughing stock as soon as the name is said by an english speaker (eg, viral, hardik, aanal, etc). sadly, we all know the sorrows of people with those names. it has to be original since his last name will be patel, so don't offer names like amit or sameer! it doesn't have to be indian, but i'm thinking it shouldn't really be bob or harry, either (and we've got tony covered, thanks).
so now i've got a lot of free time on my hands. we just finished our move to milwaukee a couple days ago so rani and i just hang out all day. i do have to admit, moving back to milwaukee was much more pleasant than i thought it would be. i forgot what a large city it is, and how much there is to do here. just taking a walk with rups and rani yesterday evening, we ran into a few different people we'd known in our past lives here, and they were so happy we were moving back. we were genuinely happy to see them, too, and already have a playdate lined up with another baby and a puppy. to be honest, it does get a bit boring for rani and me during the day, especially as we don't know many people for playdates or pool parties, it's too hot to spend much time at the park or beach, and all her toys are in storage in rups' parents' basement. she's getting more attached to me, i can tell, and actually wants to hold my hand now instead of wanting to do everything on her own. i bet it's just a phase.
i'm trying to post some pics, but this website is being diffult. i'll keep trying.
he is a real kicker, too. just this year i got into the world cup, despite living in manchester, england in 1999 when manchester united won the european cup. let me just say, this boy is going to be a striker. i received dubious looks when i said i could feel him kick at 14 weeks, but he seriously is practicing to be a soccer player already. rups felt him kick for the first time last week, and just like with rani, his whole face just lit up. even rani runs over to my stomach and says "baby kick". of course i exaggerate the kick immensely (or even sometimes make them up) for her pleasure. just like rani, he also likes to kick mostly at night. i was afraid after the first pregnancy that she'd have day-night confusion and be up all night, but she's been a fantastic sleeper, so i don't think kicking habits are that predictive of sleeping patterns.
right on cue, this is the time in my pregnancies that i forget i'm pregnant. there are no more weird cravings, no food or smell aversions, no midday exhaustion, i'm not big enough to need help getting off the couch, and i can still carry rani easily. people are becoming slightly more comfortable asking if i'm pregnant, but there's still that hesitant pause right before they ask while they think, "but what if she's not? then i'm just an ass." there's still some difficulty finding a good position to sleep in, but i've dug up the enormous cinnamon bun pregnancy pillow that oddly enough contorts my body into a comfortable position long enough for me at get at least 4 hours straight.
one thing we've been thinking about more are names. girl names were so easy, but we are stumped on boy names. we have one tentative name picked out, but this is my invitation to you guys to send in recommendations. nothing outlandish, and nothing that will mark my son as a laughing stock as soon as the name is said by an english speaker (eg, viral, hardik, aanal, etc). sadly, we all know the sorrows of people with those names. it has to be original since his last name will be patel, so don't offer names like amit or sameer! it doesn't have to be indian, but i'm thinking it shouldn't really be bob or harry, either (and we've got tony covered, thanks).
so now i've got a lot of free time on my hands. we just finished our move to milwaukee a couple days ago so rani and i just hang out all day. i do have to admit, moving back to milwaukee was much more pleasant than i thought it would be. i forgot what a large city it is, and how much there is to do here. just taking a walk with rups and rani yesterday evening, we ran into a few different people we'd known in our past lives here, and they were so happy we were moving back. we were genuinely happy to see them, too, and already have a playdate lined up with another baby and a puppy. to be honest, it does get a bit boring for rani and me during the day, especially as we don't know many people for playdates or pool parties, it's too hot to spend much time at the park or beach, and all her toys are in storage in rups' parents' basement. she's getting more attached to me, i can tell, and actually wants to hold my hand now instead of wanting to do everything on her own. i bet it's just a phase.
i'm trying to post some pics, but this website is being diffult. i'll keep trying.
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