Sunday, April 27, 2014

To My Baby Kangaroo - 4.27.14

Yesterday we had an ultrasound. We found out you are in the 48th percentile for size. Which is pretty near spot on - apparently 50th percentile is "normal". You are about 15 oz. You did not like showing us your face; you kept covering it with your arms and hands. Your heartbeat is around 140 beats per minute; healthy for your age. Your head is about 2" wide, from ear to ear. Your feet are big (that comes from your dad) but your second toe is longer than your first (that comes from me).

And we found out you're a girl. So grandmas will start making frilly things for you.

Your dad is already practicing saying "no"; but I told him it's hopeless. Once he meets you he'll never say no to you. I know it.

This week you are the size of a spaghetti squash. That seems really big after seeing pictures of you. I don't know where they get these vegetable comparisons from! Your eyes are developing although the coloration of your eyes isn't visible yet.

Symptoms this week:
You started moving more. I expect you to move around 9-10 am and sometimes again in the evening when I am exercising, around 5-6pm.
I still have muscle pain in my buttcheeks, but I noticed that if I walk on the trail or track instead of the treadmill, I don't have the pain. Two days this week I walked outside instead of at the gym, and a third day I lifted weights and only did cardio to warm up and cool down.

Since last Saturday I've been plagued with allergies. Drainage, coughing, nasal congestion - Tylenol Sinus doesn't seem to help. Benadryl helps some, but puts me to sleep, so I only take it at bedtime. Hopefully whatever is blooming that is setting off the symptoms will stop soon. I don't feel as bad at home or in the car as I do at work, which makes me think it is something blooming at the office.

Saturday, April 26, 2014

Garden

Today I planted tomatoes. Lots of tomatoes. I still have two more varieties to plant, but ran out of room...

I planted:
Yellow Pear x 2
Black Cherry x 2
Red Zebra x 3
Rainbow Heirloom x 9
Roma x 9
San Marzano x 10

Also green tomatillos x 2.

During transplanting, I mixed peat moss into the transplant hole, and watered in with Schultz transplant solution. Then I mulched with the straw that we used last fall to insulate the shed concrete slab while it was curing.

Sunday, April 20, 2014

To My Baby Kangaroo - 4.20.14

This week you experienced a lot of "firsts". I went to San Antonio for a work conference. Your "firsts" included:
Riding in an elevator multiple times a day. My room was on the top floor (floor 11) of the Hyatt Regency on the Riverwalk.
Dueling pianos - the big banquet night included dueling pianos, cocktails (a mocktail for me, thanks to the awesome bartender - sprite and cranberry juice), and Grammy award winning band Asleep  At the Wheel
A boat tour of the Riverwalk
Two airplane flights, including some turbulence
Mango gelato - mmmm, made me miss Greece!

This week you are the length of a large carrot. Your eyebrows are growing and your reproductive organs are continuing to form. 

My symptoms this week:
I didn't notice anything different from last week. I drink a lot of water and so I pee a lot. I think you are still kicking me, but more like love-taps than karate kicks. 

Saturday, April 19, 2014

Garden 4.19.14

Finally! I spent several hours in the garden this morning. The Hubs tilled about half the garden for me. Oh, and Thursday evening I planted 3 Victoria Rhubarb plants.
I prepped the seed potatoes; I cut them into smaller pieces so each piece has an eye. They are drying out a bit on newspaper on our dining room table. Hopefully they will go in the ground this evening or tomorrow morning.
I planted golden shallots, red and yellow onions, mesclun mix, dill, Cylindra beets, Ruby Queen beets, and Tyee spinach. I also planted a first sowing of Top Crop green beans, and Sugar Sweet Pumpkins and Sweeter Yet cucumbers. I also planted a mix of castor beans, bachelor buttons, zinnias, Shasta daisies, and coreopsis.
Then I raked/hoed areas to plant tomatoes and the potatoes.
The rest of the garden will have peppers, corn, more green beans, winter and summer squash, more cucumbers, melons, tomatillos, carrots and more herbs.
This year instead of planting short rows across the garden, we are trying long rows that go the length of the garden (minus the area with the flowers, strawberries and asparagus). We are trying long rows so the Hubs can rototill the aisles - this will help keep weeds down, and will keep me from having to bend over and pull weeds when I'm super pregnant.
Earlier this week I started having second thoughts about such a large garden while pregnant. Then I decided to move forward with it. A garden gives me alone-time so I can think by myself, it gets me out in the sunshine for several hours each week, and it provides exercise (don't believe me? Try hoe-ing for 30 minutes, or bending over to weed or harvest. It's hard work!).
The fruit trees all appear to be growing, with the exception of the golden apricot that I planted in the fall of 2012. It is slow to set on leaves or blooms compared to the other apricot tree. So much for having multiple varieties that will polinate each other - kind of impossible when only one tree is blooming! The grapes, raspberries and blueberries are all coming back. And the blackberries I transplanted from the farm are growing. I am still looking for golden raspberries (a request by the Hubs) because the bare root ones I ordered from Burgess never sprouted. They even sent replacement plants and those didn't sprout.
The flower bulbs are also blooming, and the peonies are growing (although I don't expect them to bloom for another year).

Pop Goes the Kangaroo

I take a photo each week, usually on Monday after I've worked out at the gym. This week's photo was in street clothes on Wednesday evening because I travelled to a work conference this week. I didn't work out at the gym this week, but did a lot of walking at the conference and around downtown San Antonio. 
I purchased some new shirts for the gym because my boobs and belly are getting too big for my regular shirts. 
I've also been looking for a local maternity photographer. Hopefully we'll have some professional photos taken this summer.


Week 6 
Week 10
Week 15

Week 20

Saturday, April 12, 2014

To my Baby Kangaroo 4.13.14

We're halfway there, unless you decide to stay in there for more or less than 40 weeks!

This week you are the length of a banana, about 6-1/2 inches. Your reproductive organs are continuing to develop.

This week's symptoms:
I woke up with a charlie horse one night. First time I've had one of those in maybe a year.
You started moving so that I could for-sure tell it was you. Several days this week you were kicking me and it felt like karate chops on my intestines.
I'm still hungry every 2 hours. I keep my snack drawer in my desk full of granola bars, keep fruit on top of my desk, and yogurt in the fridge.
I look pregnant. Regular pants with the belly band are no longer as comfortable as maternity pants, and I like the fit of maternity shirts more than nonmaternity shirts. Regular shirts hang off my belly weird and look like a moo-moo.

This week you experienced farm life. I was playing fetch with Freddy and we both noticed a heifer was out of the field and was munching on the neighbor's crops. Dad and my brother were both at work, so I chased the calf into the barnlot by myself. Which involved chasing her around the neighbor's wheat field, down the county road, out of the orchard and into the barnlot. Good thing I had my cowboy boots in my car and didn't have to wear work shoes to do that! The next day Grandma informed me the heifer had gotten out of the barnlot before Dad got home. Who knows where she is getting out - the fence by the road doesn't appear broken. So she's either a jumper or a crawler, over or under the barbed wire.

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

What No One Tells You About Pregnancy

I find it shocking that between the two pregnancy books that I own and the multiple pregnancy websites I read weekly that the following information was not provided. No one told me that:
1. During pregnancy, people (coworkers, family, etc) would consider my pregnancy to be a disability. I'm not disabled folks, I'm pregnant. Big difference. If anything, you non-pregnant folks are the disabled ones because you're only living for one; I'm living for two. I eat for two, pee & poop for two, exercise for two, do everything for two.
2. Before I was pregnant the conversation starter of "What's going on?" would change to "How are you feeling today?" However, people still don't really want to know the answer. (They don't want to hear when you're constipated.)
3. Pregnancy websites and books all describe the first sensations of baby movements to feel like butterfly wings or bubbles popping. What they fail to mention is that at week 19, it feels like my baby is practicing karate kicks on my intestines. That baby feels a lot more violent than butterflies and bubbles.
4. Your body will hurt. My leg and butt muscles start to hurt if I walk too much. They also hurt if I stand too much. They also hurt if I sit still too long (regardless of if the chair/couch is soft or hard.)
5. When you tell people you are taking maternity leave, they expect you mean 6 weeks. Where did you get that idea? I'm taking as close to 12 weeks as I can. I deserve it. My baby deserves it. My checkbook deserves it (so I can save on that $160+/week childcare expense for an additional couple weeks.)
6. Your boobs will get huge. Very early in  your pregnancy. And probably will grow again once you give birth and your milk comes in. I increased from a C to a D cup in the first 2 months of pregnancy. You couldn't even tell by looking at my belly that I was pregnant, but I almost looked like Dolly Parton.
7. Pregnant sex is awesome. You don't have to worry about the birth control not working because you're already pregnant and it doesn't matter!
8. It is incredibly difficult to find information for continuing strength training and cardio routines throughout pregnancy. Most strength training websites I find advise me to lift no more than 10 pounds. Hello! How does that prepare me for lifting a baby or toddler that weighs more than 10 pounds? And why do I have to scale back to that when I've been lifting 50+ pounds for 2 sets of 15 for the last 2+ years? Why am I suddenly deemed a weakling? I talked with my personal trainer and she said to continue doing what I was doing pre-pregnancy but to not increase weights. And if it starts to hurt or get uncomfortable then scale it back by 5-10 pounds or until it is comfortable again. That sounds like better advice.
9. You will be hungry all the time. You will eat and be hungry in two hours. You will take snacks to work and run out of them quickly. That bunch of 6 bananas you bought to last for snacks all week? You need to get more fruit because those won't last more than 2-3 days.
10. You will feel like you are temporarily missing out on parts of your life. Typically go for a 4-wheeler ride at the farm on summer weekends? Well, when you're pregnant, that ATV ride is considered "risky behavior" so you can't do that. Like your steaks medium rare and your eggs over-easy? Shouldn't do that, not even if you processed the meat yourself and personally knew/know the chickens, cow/deer and farmer. Like feta cheese? This is one area where most of the books/websites are wrong! If that cheese is made with pasteurized milk, eat the whole f-ing block if you want! I have yet to come across a cheese sold in stores that is not made with pasteurized milk. The only cheese I can think of that might be on the "no" list during pregnancy is the cheese curds from the farmer's market in Springfield, but since my favorite way to eat those was pan-fried they are probably safe to eat.

Sunday, April 6, 2014

To my Baby Kangaroo 4.6.14

Week 19... We're close to the halfway mark!

This week you are about half a pound and about 6" long from head to rump.

Pregnancy symptoms this week?

Bouts of extreme hunger when I was not sure what I wanted to eat but felt like I could eat everything in the fridge. Typically I settle for a banana or Greek yogurt, but sometimes I grab a piece of chocolate or a couple potato chips. I know, not healthy, but sometimes the salt or sweet is what I'm craving.
Stiffness when I sit for more than half an hour. This is a good excuse to get up and move around more often, but doesn't make for a very productive workday...
This was the first week when I looked in the mirror and definitely saw a baby bump. Even your dad mentioned it one morning.

I think I felt you move this week but I'm not sure. You're my first, so I don't know what I'm supposed to be feeling for. It felt like I was being rubbed on the inside. And sometimes when I sit with my knees pulled up it gets a little uncomfortable - like maybe you're kicking to try and make more space.

That sinus infection I dealt with last week is finally gone.

I'm required to watch an epidural video or attend the class at my hospital. I chose to watch the online video. Holy crap, an epidural looks scary. Huge needle and risks I'm not looking forward to - including rare complications such as numbness/inability to breathe without a breathing tube, and the shearing off of the needle in the spine - scary crap. I wish I knew some women who gave birth without drugs so we could talk about their pain level - do I really need that epidural?

I've been researching 529 College Savings plans and think I'll make an appointment with my banker next week to discuss. I'm still paying off my student loans but would like to set up a savings plan so we can contribute monthly and put your birthday money in it.

March was my last month of gym membership. I decided to save the monthly membership fee and work out at a City facility (free since I'm a City employee). The equipment is not as good as at the gym, and it is more crowded than the gym, but it is free. I keep telling myself that $55 a month can buy a lot of diapers. Or help with other expenses.

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Seedlings

This weekend I fertilized the peppers with diluted fish emulsion fertilizer. I moved the grow lights higher on all the plants. I'll probably fertilize the tomato plants next weekend. Everything is looking good so far!

Our last frost date is mid April, that is if spring decides to ever arrive. The weather keeps going back and forth between sunny and 75, and frosty. Which makes it difficult to plant a garden and breathe. The cow poo was spread on the garden several weeks ago, and then it rained several times. The rain is a good thing because it softens up the garden area but also a bad thing because the garden area doesn't have enough organic matter to dry out quickly. I've had onion and potato sets ready to go in the ground for almost a month now, but we haven't been able to rototill the garden so that I can plant.

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