Éste no es el sitio para usted

If you've landed here looking for the lyrics to Scott Blasey's song "San Antonio," I apologize. I've learned through StatCounter that a surprising number of people have come here looking for just that ("lyrics San Antonio Scott Blasey," although not as many as landed here searching for "6dpo" or "Dar Williams setlist"). I did a google search myself to see what was going on and I was surprised to discover that I come up on the first search page because I have the song listed in my most recent playlist on the sidebar.

Again, I apologize. I don't have the lyrics. He has a website. It's www.(hisname).com. Email him. His email is scott@(hisname).com. (I'm not linking to it or writing it out because I don't want him to find out I gave it to you! If you're not smart enough to decipher the "secret code," well then... cough cough... I don't know what to say). But, seriously; he's a chatty guy, he's actually very friendly, and he will probably write you back.

And if this is your question, as far as I can tell the line is "Es la chica para usted," which means "she is the girl for you," but I could be wrong. I failed eleventh grade Spanish, after all.

Better Late Than Never (or early, in some cases)

I can't believe that there's only one more day left in November and I forgot to mention that November is Prematurity Awareness Month. Very fitting, as it's also the month that the Monkeyboy was born -- 6 weeks early.

Visit the March of Dimes. Read the stories of the babies. Purchase a band to commemorate a premature birth or just make a donation. If you're pregnant, learn about what you can do to prevent premature birth.

Climbing down off my soap box...

No Excuses

I really have no excuse for being MIA for so long. I guess I just figured that since NaBloPoMo was shot to hell already, I'd just take the holiday weekend (and then some) off.

Updates:

• The Monkeyboy may or may not have Fifth Disease. He's had cold symptoms for about a week. Then on Sunday he had the "slapped cheeks" look. By Monday it had faded and he had a rash on his torso and legs, as well as a fever. As of yesterday, though, the rash had faded even more, but didn't really have the "lacey" look it was supposed to. Regardless, I've spoken to the PA at my OB's office and I'm having the antibody bloodtest done.
• My amnio is scheduled for December 11. It will be a torturous two week wait to get there, then another torturous two week wait for the results.
• My level II ultrasound is scheduled for December 27.
• I've finished the Harry Potter series. Whew!

Maternity Clothes Rant

Last weekend, I spent time shopping for maternity clothes in order to fill in the gap in my maternity wardrobe so that I have something to wear right now. The capris and short skirts that got me through my late-first-trimester, early-second-trimester, I'm-not-fat-I'm-pregnant awkward stage in my first pregnancy aren't going to cut it in my second. After all, it's not June and July this time, it's November and December.

I'd forgotten that maternity clothes makers seem to have their own set of "What Not to Wear" rules when it comes to dressing the pregnant woman. Apparently, in between hits on their crack pipes, they've made a whole set of assumptions about how pregnant women want to dress.

• Since I'm having a baby, I must want to dress like a baby. Therefore, pastel colors of pink and blue are preferred, as are patterns like cute polka-dots.
• Since my uterus is growing, I must also have grown several inches in height. Therefore, pants are made to come in only one inseam length. Petite (or even "short") maternity clothes are as rare as the pygmy three-toed sloth.
• Since pregnancy has granted me an awesome new rack, I must want to show it off as much as possible, Therefore, all clothes must be extremely low cut or otherwise revealing.
• Since I will be pregnant for a mere forty weeks, I must want to spend as much or more on maternity clothes as I spend on my real wardrobe that I can wear year after year. Therefore, quality maternity clothes will be $90 blouses, $108 jeans and $200 dresses.

Luckily, I was able to find a few choice items of the type of things I had in mind. Hopefully it will be enough to carry me through until I can break out the big clothes.

Nuchal Translucency

(And with a few more days off from work, NaBloPoMo has taken another hit. I hate to think what will happen over Thanksgiving Break.)

Yesterday was my First Trimester Screening (nuchal translucency scan and bloodwork), as well as a regular OB appointment.

I've never had an ultrasound at 12 weeks, so I was glad to see that the two rocks I had a few weeks back have grown into a baby. The nuchal measurement was 1.5 mm, which is good. Now I'm just waiting to get my own personal risk factor after they process my bloodwork. Not that it matters, because I'll be calling to schedule my amnio soon anyway, regardless.

The heartrate on the ultrasound was 160 bpm, but later that afternoon when my OB used the doppler, he told the nurse 148. Maybe the baby was taking a nap at the second appointment. I got a prescription for amnio (I didn't get one last time and don't think I need it, but took it anyway) and also got the order for my 18 week level II ultrasound, so I can call and schedule it over my Christmas Break and not have to take another day off work (I'm running out).

Since my appointment three weeks ago, I've gained another pound and a half. I didn't want to bother the OB about it, but the next time I go in I'll see the PA again and I know she'll humor me and look up my weight gain at various points during my previous pregnancy. I remember being very happy with my rate of weight gain; it never seemed too much or too little. And by the time I delivered at 34 weeks, I had gained 29 pounds. I think if I had gone to term, I would have gained around 35 pounds, which was within the range with which I was comfortable. I just wish I had noted my weight gain somewhere, so I could refer to it now. But I know it's in my chart and I'll have to wait to check it there.

Right before I left the doctor's office, as I was checking out, my OB came back over to me and started flipping through my chart that was lying there on the counter.

"How early did you deliver last time?" He asked, as if he had just remembered that I had delivered prematurely.

"Thirty-four weeks. And five days, I think." Although I know for sure that it was thirty-four weeks and five days. I'm not sure why I felt I had to be obtuse about it.

"Did we ever determine why?" He was still frantically flipping through my chart. At this point, I gave up any pretense of not knowing for sure the details.

"I came in on October 27 for spotting and contractions, and it turned out I had a yeast infection and BV, which I was treated for, although I hadn't had any symptoms of either. Then on November 5 my water broke."

"Well, we're going to monitor you very closely this time." He turned to the nurse, "Put a note in her chart to check her for BV at her 20 weeks appointment."

I didn't mention that at my first appointment, I had the PA check me for BV and yeast, and she said there was "maybe a tiny bit of bacteria up there, but not much" and gave me a prescription for Flagyl anyway. She told me to wait until I was out of the first trimester until I took it, since some doctors believe it may be associated with birth defects if used then. I still haven't taken it. I think I'll start by the fourteenth week, so I know for sure I'm out of the first trimester, no matter how you count, but that it's done its job by the time I have my amnio.

Glad to know

I never actually thought about it, but frankly I'm not surprised to find out that Mimi Maternity and Motherhood Maternity stores welcome breastfeeding. All the same, it's nice to see them advertise it. While shopping today, I saw this sign in the dressing room.

Land of Twins

Igbo-Ora, Nigeria. Soon they'll be offering fertility vacation packages, no doubt.

The rate of identical twins is pretty steady throughout the world at about 0.5 percent of all births, according to a 1995 study by Belgian researcher Fernand Leroy, who has worked extensively on twins.

Overall, almost 5 percent of all Yoruba births produce twins, the Belgian study said, compared with just around 1.2 percent for Western Europe and 0.8 percent for Japan -- although fertility drugs in the developed world are changing those figures.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071112/wl_africa_afp/nigeriafamilytwins

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/people/highlights/010607_twins.shtml

Lyrically Speaking

There's the wind and the rain
And the mercy of the fallen
Who say hey it's not my place to know what's right
There's the weak and the strong
And the many stars that guide us
We have some of them inside us

-- Dar Williams, "Mercy of the Fallen," Beauty of the Rain (2003)

Wakey wakey, hands off... (nevermind)

When I got up last night for my middle-of-the-night-pee (so far, I'm only doing this once per night), I could not get back to sleep. It was 3:30 a.m. and I was wide awake. And still awake at 3:52 a.m. And still awake at 4:17 a.m. The last time I looked at the clock before falling asleep, it was 5:10 a.m.

My alarm goes off at 5:25 a.m.

Over last weekend, I awoke one morning at 6:00 a.m. and lay awake for almost an hour before falling back to sleep. And since this pregnancy has started, it's happened often; early morning wakings where I can't fall back to sleep.

During my pregnancy with the Monkey, I woke two, three, four or more times during the night. Several of those were for bathroom trips, but often it was just to adjust my (five) pillows or shake my hands and arms awake. It was an uncomfortably poetic foreshadowing to the sleep habits of the Monkey. This is a little boy who will sleep in, wonderfully so, but it comes at a price. He sleeps restlessly and wakes often during the night.

Now I find myself wondering if this new sleep impediment of mine is again a foreshadowing of another's future sleep habits. I'm hoping it's not.

Lesson Learned #1

Just get up and go.

When you wake up in the middle of the night because you have to go to the bathroom, just get up and go the first time you wake up. Otherwise, you'll either keep waking up or just lie awake needing to go anyway. Better to just get up and go and get back to sleep.

Yeah, well, I tried

Yes, this weekend I fell off the NaBloPoMo wagon.

It was a busy, busy weekend which I will post an update about. Several updates, in fact. I am going to continue to try to keep up with every other day this month, but decided not to cheat and backdate posts. I will have a couple of posts that were intended for the last two days -- think of them as the "lost episodes" -- to bring me up to date. They'll be posted soon to fill in the gap. Although I didn't accomplish the goal of posting every day, I will have the same total number of posts, so in that way I'll feel like I accomplished something.

Better luck next year.

Lactivism is universal

A golden retriever in Virginia started nursing an orphaned kitten when the kitten wouldn't drink from a bottle. Mom, is that you? Orphaned kitten nursed by local dog

The dog named Honey hadn’t given birth in 18 months — but an orphaned kitten’s cries made her start producing milk.

This just goes to show, anyone can breastfeed if they're determined enough to do it.

All-natural

A few days ago I scheduled my first trimester screening (nuchal translucency scan and bloodwork). I didn't have this done with the Monkey, mainly because it wasn't very common yet two years ago and it wasn't offered. It still wasn't actually offered to me by my doctor, but I found out that the genetic counseling department at the hospital where I delivered now does them, so I asked for one. Last time, we skipped the triple screen and went straight for the amnio (done by the same place where I'll have my NT scan) because I just had to have a definitive answer. We'll still have an amnio done, because the first trimester screening is just that -- a screening where they determine your risk of a defect. An amnio is an actual test. But I have to admit, since it's covered by my insurance, I can't pass up the chance for another early ultrasound. (It sounds so shallow and paranoid when I write it, though).

When I called to schedule this appointment, the genetics department still had most of my medical information in their system. I did have to update it and answer some questions about the current pregnancy, though. Most were the usual, "What was the first day of your last menstrual period?"-type medical history questions.

However, the question that caught me off guard was, "Is this a natural pregnancy?" I knew what she meant, but it still gave me a moment's pause before I could figure out how exactly to answer. "No, I took Clomid."

It's similar to when parents of twins are asked, "Are they natural?" I've told my twin-mommy friend OldChristine that she needs to start answering people with, "One is. The other was made with an unknown glowing substance which fell to Earth, presumably from outer space."

I understand why the question is asked. However, it's the semantics of the question that got me. The language is deliberately vague in an attempt to be polite (like when people say someone has "passed on" rather than died). But I was answering questions about my medical history for Pete's sake. Less vague wording could have been used. How about, "Was this pregnancy the result of any fertility treatments or medications?" I expect precision from the medical community. I'd rather they be straightforward and accurate than condescend in an attempt to spare my feelings. Frankly, we're all smarter than that. (Or at least, I know I am and I hope they are).

Well, we're movin' on up

This morning, the time had come to break out the big bras (the D cups). I was once again digging through the rubbermaid containers of maternity clothes I haven't yet unpacked to find the second piece of maternity I've donned so far (the first being a pair of jeans I wore at home last weekend).

And, aaahhh... so comfy.

Here we go 'round the ligament pain...

With my first pregnancy, I didn't start feeling like crap until around 20 weeks.

It's easy to remember, because I happened to spend two weeks in England with a friend around the mid-way point, having been reassured by my OB that it was, in his words, "the perfect time to take a trip." In most ways it was, but it was also when my arms, wrists and hands first started falling asleep (a harbinger of the carpal tunnel and ulnar neuropathy that would have me crying in the shower many a morning within a month). And it was also when my feet started to really, really hurt by the end of the days spent walking around London or parts more remote, as my feet were starting to spread and swell. When I got home, I realized I had been wearing shoes that had become at least a half size too small for me. But up until that point, I had felt fantastic. A little fatigued during the first trimester, but other than that, nothing to complain about.

This time around, I already feel like crap. And I've felt like crap for, oh... about the last ten weeks and six days (for those of you now trying to do math on your fingers, that's since this game got started). Starting from the Clomid, continuing through the progesterone, I've had fatigue and mild nausea that have exceeded my first go-round. I've had insomnia that didn't strike last time until the third trimester. My breasts hurt continously, making me aware of their presence every moment of my day (it's an odd sensation). But the most fun of all is the round ligament pain. I know I sound like a broken record, but last time I didn't experience this until later, at least until the second trimester (and therefore it was much higher up than I'm feeling it now). Sudden movement is not my friend. Neither are coughing or sneezing.

Overall, however, the discomfort from any of this is not constant and not debilitating (no, debilitating is yet to come, I'm sure, if I use my previous pregnancy as foreshadowing). It just leaves me with a general feeling of malaise. And I really do hate to complain, because no matter what the symptoms, it's still worth it.

Sequels

I'm almost ten weeks into the production of my newest project, Baby 2: Electric Boogaloo. I noticed the other evening, as I finished one novel and picked up the next in my stack of books to read, that recently I've been reading only sequels. This was not intentional on my part, but it is an interesting coincidence. On my list of books I've read (or plan to read), since starting to gestate my very own sequel, are:

The Life of the World to Come by Kage Baker (Book 5 of The Company)

The Children of the Company by Kage Baker (Book 6 of The Company)

The Harlequin by Laurell K. Hamilton (Anita Blake, Book 15)

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J. K. Rowling (Book 6)*

Home to Big Stone Gap by Adriana Trigiani (Book 4 of the Big Stone Gap novels)

Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer (Twilight Book 3)**

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling (Book 7)

Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade by Diana Gabaldon (Lord John Grey, Book 2)

Lord John and the Hand of Devils by Diana Gabaldon (Lord John Grey, Book 3)

I haven't bought the last three books on the list, so after I finish Home to Big Stone Gap, I need to cough up some money. (The third Lord John book doesn't even come out until the end of November, anyway.) But I'm also lazy (and sometimes cheap), so I may raid my other shelves of unread books to find something to read, before investing money in new ones. There's always the chance that Half.com or Half Price Books will save something special and inexpensive for me.

*This is where I am in my reading so far.
**I'll just borrow this one from the school library.

All I can say is... Eeeeww.

Lance Armstrong has been spotted out (dating?) with Ashley Olsen.

Because of these reports, Lance has been suspended from The List, pending an investigation. I've been toying with the idea of adding Rob Lowe to the Bottom Five, since that commercial for California he's in came out. As of now, Rob is officially the Top Five alternate replacing Lance until his suspension is up, or he is dropped from the list permanently.

Organic Milk as Calendar

If you've never bought organic milk, you need to know that it doesn't expire for six or eight weeks or more from the time you buy it. Last week, when it was still October, I bought several half-gallons that don't expire until 12/05. (Of course, we drink so much milk that we'll finish it probably before 11/05).

I remember when I was pregnant with the Monkeyboy, this served as a sort of rudimentary time-marking system for me. I'd load the milk into our fridge and think, we'll have our amnio before this milk expires. It was especially exciting for me as I got closer to the end of my pregnancy (although I would have been surprised to know how close I really was, since he came six weeks early). Every time I bought milk, it seemed, it was due to expire after we would have a baby living in the house. The concept was just too strange to comprehend.

I remember being struck with the idea that we had essentially invited someone to come live with us for at least the next eighteen years -- someone we hadn't even met yet. It was the equivalent of putting an add in the paper for a roommate and just taking the first person that showed up. Of course, as parents we influence who the baby is both before they are born and as they grow, through the effects of nature and nurture, so they're not really as much of a stranger as a real stranger would be. But, still... you never really know who's going to show up.

We have a fetus!

Actually, we've had a fetus for a couple of days. Wednesdays are the beginnings of my "weeks," and I think fetus status is conferred at ten weeks, one day (which was yesterday), but I forgot to mention it.

I told work today, just because I'm tired of hiding it. I think the ultrasound made me feel more confident, because normally I'd wait until at least the end of the first trimester, which is still twelve days away.

I tried on a pair of maternity jeans this morning, a new pair I bought at the Gap last weekend that have a hidden waistband, so they look pretty much like normal jeans. Even with the waistband adjusted to the smallest setting, they were a tiny little bit loose, but the jeans I'm wearing are starting to be uncomfortable. I usually wear a two (in my favorite, Ralph Lauren Kelly jeans), but when I was preggo with the Monkey, I bought a pair of fours, a pair of sixes and a pair of eights to wear as I grew toward maternity. I'm already in the eights. Soon I'll make the jump to maternity, because I'm tired of being uncomfortable. Thankfully, I can wear jeans and running suits and casual clothes to work, because recently I've had to become very creative with my clothing choices (both for comfort and hide-ability). But now that the cat is out of the bag, I'm a little more free with what I can wear.

C'mon... All the Cool Kids Are Doing It.

November is National Blog Posting Month, or the more lyrical NaBloPoMo. The idea is to post every day. This is going to be a challenge for me (and it is intended as a challenge, so it fulfills its purpose), especially on weekends.

There are a few things that have kept me from regular posting recently. The first was the extreme exhaustion I had during the first eight weeks or so of pregnancy (Thanks, progesterone!). At the same time, I've had a recurrence of pregnancy brain. In addition to throwing my dirty clothes in the garbage rather than the clothes hamper and trying to put the cereal away in the refrigerator, I've felt considerably less creative and witty. When I was expecting the Monkeyboy, I referred to pregnancy as "one long blond moment." The final reason for not posting is just simply not having the time. I've been very busy recently with work, doctor's appointments, a frequently-sick Monkeyboy and Halloween. This reason is the easiest to overcome, however, because I can make it a point to make time.

So, I'm going to try because I think it will be fun and I like a challenge. I'm also going to try to write posts of substance and not merely write something for the sake of posting. We'll see how it goes.