Sunday, August 28, 2011
Friday, August 26, 2011
Let's Talk About Sex, Baby!
This week Ben and I finally had our 20-week ultrasound. We were really looking forward to seeing our little one, counting fingers and toes, catching a glimpse of his/her facial features, seeing those feet and fists that are so frequently nudging mama these days; and, of course, finding out the sex. Before the ultrasound, Ben and I both felt pretty strongly that our little bean was a boy. Ben has been calling the little one "Malachai" and "Ezekiel" (mostly to annoy me) and we'd taken to saying "he". Interestingly, we were just about the only ones who thought it was a boy -- about 99% of our friends and family guessed a girl!
Here are a couple of images from our ultrasound. I can't help but look at them over and over again. This is our baby! Our little one for life. The pictures really don't do the actual ultrasound images justice; during the appointment the images clearly showed his/her facial features, fingers, toes, spine and organs. They showed our babe throwing out arms and legs, turning over, and generally being a squirmy little worm (just like Mama!). It was and is the most amazing thing I've ever seen.
The ultrasound tech complimented us on baby, the placenta and fluid. She said the due date looks more like late-December than early January, but the midwives chose to keep January 5th as the estimated arrival date to give the little one some time to enter the world naturally. Everything, miraculously, wonderfully, looked healthy and beautiful.
And so, you wonder, what is it? Boy or girl? We kept everyone waiting for a few days so I could send a card to each of our family members revealing the sex. Nothing fancy, just a little paper note revealing what is to come.
So now, I can tell you...
... we're having a BOY!
A sweet baby boy will join our family this winter.
Here are a couple of images from our ultrasound. I can't help but look at them over and over again. This is our baby! Our little one for life. The pictures really don't do the actual ultrasound images justice; during the appointment the images clearly showed his/her facial features, fingers, toes, spine and organs. They showed our babe throwing out arms and legs, turning over, and generally being a squirmy little worm (just like Mama!). It was and is the most amazing thing I've ever seen.
The ultrasound tech complimented us on baby, the placenta and fluid. She said the due date looks more like late-December than early January, but the midwives chose to keep January 5th as the estimated arrival date to give the little one some time to enter the world naturally. Everything, miraculously, wonderfully, looked healthy and beautiful.
And so, you wonder, what is it? Boy or girl? We kept everyone waiting for a few days so I could send a card to each of our family members revealing the sex. Nothing fancy, just a little paper note revealing what is to come.
So now, I can tell you...
... we're having a BOY!
A sweet baby boy will join our family this winter.
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Week 20: Reflections
This week marks the halfway point in our pregnancy, of our journey into parenthood. It's hard to believe that in a few short months we'll welcome our little one to the world. A new life. A new family! Most often I have baby on my brain, reading and touching my belly and photographing the transformation of my body. This babe is so, so active inside of me. Just today, I swear the little bean was doing somersaults as I ate green grapes. (Ben felt a bit of pride in hearing this, as green grapes are his fave.) Mostly I am completely entranced and awed by this pregnancy, but sometimes it still feels unreal. But still, we prepare.
From the day we discovered we were pregnant, I was thwarted into this new life with hardly a glance behind me. I was propelled by an uncontrollable need to nest and to nurture this little one growing inside. This is not to say it didn't take time to process what was actually happening to us, because it sure did. As I said, sometimes this still feels unreal that our lives will change so drastically soon. But processing aside, I felt like I had little control of my actions, my thoughts, my urges. I nearly sent Ben running in the opposite direction when, the day after breaking the news to him, I was off buying stacks of pregnancy books and prenatal vitamins. He didn't have those wonderful hormones pulsing through his veins, dictating his actions and snapping his brain immediately into thoughts of babies, diapers and parenthood. But I did.
In the months leading to this point, we've been nesting and preparing both in our own ways and together. It has always been our plan to move to a bigger place somewhere down the line. In April, we finally finished the kitchen remodel and the end of construction zone hell in our house was in sight. We were looking forward to enjoying the newly remodeled place for a while. But once we learned a little one would be joining the family, Ben decided the time to move was now. At first, I resisted his urging, happy to stay in the two bedroom condo until after the baby was born. But I soon realized he was dead set on this decision and so I caved. So now, Ben spends his weekends and evenings putting up trim and patching holes and touching up paint. Soon we'll have our place on the market and the house hunting will commence. It's a race against the clock now, we'll need to move in the next few months or we stay put until after the birth.
In my own preparation for babe, I've been reading, on average, a book a week. I know some people say you shouldn't read any books about pregnancy, but the researcher in me tells me otherwise. I need to know exactly what's happening to my body, how the baby is developing inside me, and what to expect in the coming months and years. I treat no book as gospel, but I take from each a bit of knowledge that will help me along the way. I've also found the prenatal yoga classes both at the Boulder Foothills Hospital and Yo Mama Yoga Center to be of unbelievable benefit; the stretching and strengthening, the community of pregnant woman and the support system they offer, the knowledge each person brings with them to the class. I truly believe these yoga classes are one of the most important ways I can prepare for natural childbirth. Plus it's just really nice to be around a bunch of pregnant ladies.
In one week, Ben and I will find out the sex of our little one. I am so excited I can hardly stand the wait. With the ultrasound, our new life will be a little closer, a little more real to us when we see the baby with our own eyes. And we have the fun tasks still ahead: I have about 500 items within wish lists (alright, so I'm nesting like crazy these days) that we plan to whittle down to a baby registry, we'll decide on names, and we'll start the Inspired Birth childbirth classes we chose to prepare for the big show.
We're looking forward to the days ahead. And here's to hoping for more healthy (dare I say easy?) pregnant weeks and months in our future!
From the day we discovered we were pregnant, I was thwarted into this new life with hardly a glance behind me. I was propelled by an uncontrollable need to nest and to nurture this little one growing inside. This is not to say it didn't take time to process what was actually happening to us, because it sure did. As I said, sometimes this still feels unreal that our lives will change so drastically soon. But processing aside, I felt like I had little control of my actions, my thoughts, my urges. I nearly sent Ben running in the opposite direction when, the day after breaking the news to him, I was off buying stacks of pregnancy books and prenatal vitamins. He didn't have those wonderful hormones pulsing through his veins, dictating his actions and snapping his brain immediately into thoughts of babies, diapers and parenthood. But I did.
In the months leading to this point, we've been nesting and preparing both in our own ways and together. It has always been our plan to move to a bigger place somewhere down the line. In April, we finally finished the kitchen remodel and the end of construction zone hell in our house was in sight. We were looking forward to enjoying the newly remodeled place for a while. But once we learned a little one would be joining the family, Ben decided the time to move was now. At first, I resisted his urging, happy to stay in the two bedroom condo until after the baby was born. But I soon realized he was dead set on this decision and so I caved. So now, Ben spends his weekends and evenings putting up trim and patching holes and touching up paint. Soon we'll have our place on the market and the house hunting will commence. It's a race against the clock now, we'll need to move in the next few months or we stay put until after the birth.
In my own preparation for babe, I've been reading, on average, a book a week. I know some people say you shouldn't read any books about pregnancy, but the researcher in me tells me otherwise. I need to know exactly what's happening to my body, how the baby is developing inside me, and what to expect in the coming months and years. I treat no book as gospel, but I take from each a bit of knowledge that will help me along the way. I've also found the prenatal yoga classes both at the Boulder Foothills Hospital and Yo Mama Yoga Center to be of unbelievable benefit; the stretching and strengthening, the community of pregnant woman and the support system they offer, the knowledge each person brings with them to the class. I truly believe these yoga classes are one of the most important ways I can prepare for natural childbirth. Plus it's just really nice to be around a bunch of pregnant ladies.
In one week, Ben and I will find out the sex of our little one. I am so excited I can hardly stand the wait. With the ultrasound, our new life will be a little closer, a little more real to us when we see the baby with our own eyes. And we have the fun tasks still ahead: I have about 500 items within wish lists (alright, so I'm nesting like crazy these days) that we plan to whittle down to a baby registry, we'll decide on names, and we'll start the Inspired Birth childbirth classes we chose to prepare for the big show.
We're looking forward to the days ahead. And here's to hoping for more healthy (dare I say easy?) pregnant weeks and months in our future!
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