A MUST read for moms

I was just forwarded and email with this attached from my friend Julie and think it's so cute!

***Mommy Lessons***
By Elizabeth Davies
Chatting with an elderly woman in the supermarket check-out, I joked that I just might drive around for an hour on the way home in order to keep my snoozing newborn asleep. She laughed, adding, “Not with the price of gas, you won’t!” What that woman didn’t realize was that, to the exhausted mother of a newborn, a sleeping baby is priceless. $4 a gallon for gas? Fill me up. Heck, go ahead and triple the price. It’s worth it to hear that glorious sound of snoring in the back seat. Three months into this roller-coaster ride of motherhood, I’ve learned more than I ever did in four years at college. I feel as if I’ve earned a bachelor’s degree in parenting, and yet something tells me that, years from now, there still will be more to learn.

I’ve read entire books, scoured magazine articles and searched the web for answers. Some weeks, it’s about feeding. Other weeks, it’s sleep training. And yet, with all that information, there were some things I simply had to learn on my own.

Here are some of the lessons parenthood has to offer:

* The human bladder can hold out much longer than you ever imagined.
* Daily showers are overrated.
* Playing endless rounds of Pat-A-Cake can be more fun than a raging
party on a Saturday night, so long as you have the right little
person to play it with.
* A jumbo pack of Pampers has 88 diapers. That only sounds like a lot.
* People say dumb things. They ask when the baby is due, long after you’ve
given birth. They say, “What a sweet little girl” to a child decked out in navy
blue race cars and footballs.
* You can survive without steady amounts of food and sleep for
lengthy periods of time. You aren’t pleasant to be around, but
it’s do-able.
* A seven-pound person without the ability to speak, walk or form
complete thoughts is somehow able to undo even the best-laid plans.
* A numb arm and cramped neck are a small price to pay for a baby
who isn’t crying.
* Your spouse is a far more extraordinary person than you realized
on your wedding day.
* If ever you said, “I would never do that,” you will be forced to
eat your words. Thought you wouldn’t let your child cry in the grocery store? Once
you’ve spent 30 minutes changing, dressing and loading your child
into the car, then driving 15 minutes to the store and
simultaneously spending 40 minutes shaking a rattle with one hand
while picking out produce with the other, you’re not about to go
home empty-handed.
* Time speeds up once you have a child. Somehow, 24 hours passes in
a flash – even if you’ve spent most of it awake.
* The external stuff just doesn’t matter, so long as you’re making
memories with the people you love.

It’s entirely likely that, long after I’m gone, my son will remember me as a woman who had spit-up on her shoulder, wrinkles in her clothes and a layer of dust on her furniture. I’m okay with that.

I must walk!

That's what I was told by my doctor today at our monthly appointment. She said that I need to start walking 20 minutes every day in order to increase my stamina for birth - AH! In order to get me moving, she referenced a delivery that she had last week where the woman was so out of shape that she couldn't push and they had to use a vacuum to get the baby out! Of course that did it for me, so I will be lacing up my running shoes tonight and taking Rocky on a very long 20 minute walk, even if I have to carry him most of the way :) She told me that prenatal yoga is great, but that I must get in the cardio in order to have a successful birth. Not that I'm opposed to exercise at all (my husband IS a trainer), but it's been a while since I've really hit the pavement and it's been cold in LA these days. Never thought I'd have to buy maternity work-out clothes, but I guess that's my next purchase.

Other info from the doctor today:

I've gained 20 lbs so far which feels about right. Not sure where the other weight is going to go that I know I'll gain in the next 3 months. Hopefully it will all be in my belly!

Our little boy looks great and healthy. When we saw him today, he was all curled up with his hands hugging his chest and his knees folded in. It's getting tighter in there for him!

An hour before the appointment this morning I had to drink this orange liquid called glucola for my glucose tolerance test - it tasted like REALLY sweet gatorade. Once I arrived at the office, the nurse took blood and I'll receive the results in a few days. I'm pretty certain that everything is ok on that front...no gestational diabetes for me!

The only unfortunate occurrence today is that we learned that we missed the boat on having our structural ultrasound done. A structural ultrasound is an in depth ultrasound to look at all of the organs of the baby, make sure they're developed, sound, and seem to be working properly. After 24 weeks of pregnancy, the baby is almost too big for the doctor to see enough in the ultrasound, and we're at 27. I didn't realize there was a cut-off and took my time making the appointment. We're bummed that we won't get a better look at what's going on with our boy, but we're also confident that he's healthy and very well put together :) For any of you pregnant ladies, if your doctor doesn't bring up the structural ultrasound around week 18, make sure you ask about it.

How to make your baby wiggle!

As I'm sure most first time pregnant women and moms are, I'm extremely paranoid. Maybe I'm more paranoid than others, but since this is all so new to me, sometimes I get a little freaked out and panicked. Today is a good example. Ever since my little boy bun started to move and kick, he's been extremely active, even having a bit of a schedule to his activity. Last night and this morning (two normally active times), I couldn't really feel him move. I have read in some of my pregnancy books that when you start your third trimester, you should be more aware of the baby's movement and if they don't move for a few hours, call your doctor. WELL - After being at work for two hours sitting at my desk and not feeling anything, I got scared and called. They told me to drink something cold like ice water or very cold juice and to sit (preferably lay) down and wait for an hour. If I didn't feel any movement, I was to call back and go to the office immediately. Well, I got a big glass of ice water, drank it and sort of laid back on the chair in my office w/ my feet up on another one and in no more than 5 minutes, my little boy was moving around and kicking me again....Phew! Ever since then, he's been back to his normal antics -moving, punching, and kicking. Maybe I'm getting more used to feeling him move that I'm not noticing it as much, who knows. The morals of this story are that you should ALWAYS call your doctor if you're the least bit concerned about anything AND if you ever want to make your baby move around, down a big glass of ice water!! Guess babies in utero get cold too ;)

My friend Melissa just told me about these great bars for pregnant women and new moms called Belly Bars. She said that she ordered them online by the case and loved to eat them. I plan to order some too! It looks like they are also sold at some Whole Foods and Targets, among a few other stores. Wish I would have known about these when I was so sick that all I could eat was pasta, crackers, and had the hardest time taking my prenatal vitamin. Check them out!!

27 weeks - 2/3 down, only 1/3 to go!

Today marks my 27th week and I'm pretty sure that means the start of the third trimester - woo hoo! In honor of the being 2/3 of the way done with my pregnancy, here are 2 pictures of me this weekend!

Toy of the Year

This toy was featured on www.coolmompicks.com this week and I decided that it was too good to not share here as well. Not only is it a cute toy, but a commemorative keepsake as well. My son, being born in the same year as Obama's inauguration as our 44th president, will have one of these wooden planes on the shelf in his room. Maybe one day he'll even get to play with it, or not - I haven't decided yet. You can purchase Obama's Air Force One at http://www.craftsburykids.com/.

Fun Facts!

-The bigger your belly gets, the SMALLER your boobs look....just saying.

-The word "pregnant" comes from the Latin pre- meaning before + (g)natus meaning birth = before (giving) birth. The word "prenatal" has exactly the same origin.

-My belly button has almost popped out all the way. Does that mean I'm almost done??? :)

-There was just an earthquake here in LA about 3 hours ago and I didn't feel a thing, can you believe that?

What to expect?

There are so many strange things that "happen" during pregnancy like weird physical changes, odd feelings that arise, raging hormones, and a host of other unknowns that can cause anxiety and stress. We try hard as women to just accept them, but just because we are pregnant doesn't mean that coping with these changes comes naturally or isn't scary. I get an email every single day from www.whattoexpect.com and they've been lifesavers for me. I will go through something bothersome or questionable(like my nightmares) and sure enough within a few days, I'll get an email addressing the exact issue I'm having. Everything from what happens to your body, to how your baby is growing, and how to deal with change. It is the one single information tool that has been the most helpful to me in the last 5 1/2 months so I highly recommend that all of my pregnant friends sign up! You just put in your due date and they send you emails that correspond to the week you're in. There is even an email every week for dad that you can forward to him. The site isn't very user friendly and I'm not sure what other info they have posted on it, but the emails are amazing! Check it out! www.whattoexpect.com

Today I'm wearing one of those maternity shirts that has no form to it WHAT SO EVER and it makes me look ginormous from the side. I keep looking at myself in the mirror with disbelief, but I know that it's me and my belly under this shirt - AH! I wonder how it would look if I tried to belt the bottom so you could actually see some sort of separation between my legs and belly...probably awful. This is what I need to get used to :)