Wednesday, November 26, 2008

My New Best Friend

Sunflower Seeds!

Wow what a life saver! They are the first thing I've come across that is keeping the naseau away. I have really been dying the last few days and I popped a few in my mouth and oh, what sweet relief!! I'll need to make sure I'm drinking some extra water because these are so salty. If anyone out there wants to try them - I strongly endorse the Jumbo Brand Sunflower Seeds in their shell.

I also need to give some props. Yesterday, after my post about bad dreams and Arrested Development, Sarah over at dreamsandfalsealarms tried to post the comment:

"Perhaps you should consult an analrapist about those bad dreams..."

It seems like google wouldn't allow the post - but this kind of genius needs to be known.

Hilarious - I'm still giggling over it.

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Can't think of a title

I think I mentioned this a few weeks ago, at our first OB/GYN appointment, our doctor said that if we started to feel nervous that we could come in for an u/s to see the heartbeat for reassurance. We’ve managed to not let ourselves get too freaked out that something has gone wrong. One of the things that has helped is that my morning sickness seems to have kicked in to full gear. It feels like a sign that things are progressing well down there. For the last few weeks, I’ve sort of had one symptom at a time. I’d be woozy in the morning, which was replaced by heartburn after lunch and then my naseau would make itself known on the ride home from work.

Now, I am feeling everything at the same time, all day long. I feel conspicuous complaining about it since we have paid tens of thousands of dollars for this very feeling. I also feel guilty complaining about it since I’m sure there are women out there who have been through worse and even more women would be happily take on my symptoms times ten. Despite all of this, it’s unpleasant.

C and I have both been having bad dreams lately. C’s dreams tend to focus around something horrible happening to me in childbirth and mine tend to be about the world being destroyed. Last night, I dreamt that the planet Mercury somehow got off course and was going to collide with the Earth in 8 hours. There wasn’t enough time to send up a rescue mission like Morgan Freeman did in Deep Impact, so C and I were left to decide what we were going to do, take matters into our own hands, etc. I woke up in a bit of a panic and didn’t really fall back asleep after that. The weird thing is that the nightmares are so vivid, it takes an unusually long time to figure out that they are only dreams.

I’ll end this post on some good news – a GREAT thing happened today. I had completely forgotten that I loaned my 3 seasons of Arrested Development to a friend at work. She’s probably had them for a year – and she brought them back today! I definitely foresee an AD marathon sometime during my 4-day weekend. I am STOKED!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

Friday, November 21, 2008

Meet the baby

We've been struggling at our house with how we refer to the baby. We're only in our 11th week - so it's too early to know the gender, although we both have a 'feeling' that it's going to be a boy.

We've settled on Mr. Shanahan. The baby, just like the coach, holds all of our hopes and dreams.

Go baby and go Broncos!!

Monday, November 17, 2008

Week 10

The weeks are really crawling. I’m really trying to focus on the here-and-now and just enjoy being pregnant, but I can’t help but get ahead of myself. I can’t wait to smell this child’s head – I can’t wait to see my mom’s face the first time she holds him/her – I can’t wait to give him/her a bath in the sink! I know that by that time comes, I’m going to wish I had relished earlier moments a bit more – but I just can’t help but fast forward our life.

My morning sickness has gotten a little bit worse, but it’s still manageable and probably minor compared to what others have experienced. I have no appetite at all. The only things I can manage to get myself to eat are peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, juice and toast. The thought of everything else makes me want to run to the bathroom. I haven’t been vomiting, just really queasy and woozy. My weekends are spent on the couch doing nothing.

I’m feeling pretty bad about the fact that I’m not eating any fruits and vegetables. I started this pregnancy off with a balanced diet – and can’t manage that right now. I was talking to a friend of mine at work who is pregnant and she told me about these fruit and vegetable pill supplements. She says that her whole family swears by them and all of their babies come out healthy and shiny and loving vegetables. I’ll try it and let you all know how it goes.

I’ve been having a tough time figuring out what kind of Paid Family Leave benefits C will have once the baby is born. At this point, I’m not sure if our marriage will still be valid, so worst-case-scenario, we’d register as Domestic Partners. I was under the impression that Domestic Partners would have the same eligibility as a married couple here in California – but I’m getting a different story from our HR person. I don’t think she’s necessarily trying to be shitty – I think she’s just stupid and as a result I’m probably going to have to end up doing most of the legwork on this. Irritating. But, maybe this will make it easier for the next lesbo couple having a kid.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

The Real Dr. Love

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. Work has been crazy in the week that I've been back from vacation. I've been saying for a while that taking time off is the corporate equivalent of cutting. Doing it makes you feel alive but coming back is more painful than you can imagine and will make you vow that you'll never do it again.

I'm not sure if I have anything new or interesting to say about the election, specifically Prop 8. I've been angrier than I expected and that anger has lasted longer than I anticipated. There were a number of times when I was in my car, listening to the latest on the protests on the lawsuits and I'd feel myself bubbling with rage. Almost always, the Prop 8 stories were followed by reports from what's going on in the Congo right now. Children as young as 9 and 10 being killed village to village so they won't be recruited as soldiers. My rage was almost always turned into a weak attempt to be thankful for being born in this country despite it's flaws and that things could be so much worse. That would last for a few minutes, until I'd remember that just because California isn't the Congo doesn't mean that what's happened isn't unjust and bullsh.it and then my rage would flare up again. It's tough being a Libra.

We had our first appointment with our regular OB today.

I. LOVE. THIS. MAN.

He is exactly what we needed. He has the best bedside manner I have ever experienced. He's really open - talked alot about himself what led him to practice medicine (the death of his father at an early age) and the kind of environment he wants to create with his patients. He was so respectful of our relationship and went out of his way to make us feel not just comfortable but that WE were the type of patients he wanted. He had pictures of lesbian couples and their babies all over the office. All of his paperwork was written to be inclusive of our community. He was also really touchy. He gave us both two hugs during the appointment. After all of the science and statistics we dealt with in trying to get pregnant - I'm definately ready for some touchy-feely.

He said that the baby looks perfect. Our next appointment is in a month, but he said that if we start to feel nervous before then and just want to hear the heartbeat - to call them up and they'll fit us in. Dreamy.

One thing that he mentioned that I'm looking forward to learning more about, he said that he strongly suggests that we store the cord blood after giving birth. He said that it's an investment but one that he thinks is worth it for couples working with donor sperm. He said that he's confident that the Obama administration will pave the way for more research in this area and that the storage could prove invaluable for certain illnesses that may arise. Not only will the cord blood work with this baby, but it can also work with siblings. Is anyone else out there considering this?

We're in our 10th week and feeling really good.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

33.3% There...

I'm a third of the way done with what could shape up to be a perfect day.

Earlier today, we graduated from our RE and will move on to a regular OB/GYN. Our little bean is about an inch long and has a great heartbeat that we got to hear for the first time today. It was definately bittersweet to graduate - we love this clinic.

My symptoms have definately been kicking in alot more - but they are still manageable. In fact, I'm really kind of enjoying them. I've had alot more naseau - not every day, it seems like I'll have 2 days with and 1 day without. Today is a day without (hopefully tonight's election results won't do anything to change that). Instead of peeing once in the middle of the night, I'm now peeing twice. My heartburn has intensified in severity and frequency and my boobs are distractingly huge. I love it all.

Now I just need Obama to win and Prop 8 to fail and I'll have my trifecta.